Age has NOTHING to do with it!
by K-K-Girl
Summary: Jareth is hit with an anti-aging spell! can Sarah save him before he's killed by not being born?J/S!
1. Prologue!

A/N: hello! Hope you enjoy!  
  
Summery: about a month after Labyrinth movie takes place. something devilishly evil attacks the Labyrinth and Jareth is hit with an un-aging spell and his memory is taken temporarily away and he wakes up in Sarah's bedroom. Memories wash back - and he's still anti-aging! Can Sarah save him before he's killed by not being born?  
  
Genre and pairings: action/adventure/drama/romance/humor J/S  
  
Chapter Started: 3/7/03 Chapter finished: 3/7/03  
  
Third person Point of View  
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In the Labyrinth {Prologue}  
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*insert evil laughter echoing off some distant unseen mountains here* "MUAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!!! Jareth, for long, long, long and many moons and suns have I fought you, but no more! I have AN EVIL IDEA that will rock your world! Tee hee!" a Black Shadow flits across the Labyrinth and then disappears. More evil laughter, followed quickly by a hacking choking sound, then picked up by the Evil Laughter once more.  
  
But the laughter stops at the Castle at night (not mentioning that it had gotten lost for seventeen days and thus completely missed the Movie's Contents) and slyly snuck into the Castle. Devious, eh? There it flittered and twittered around until it was at the top at a, obviously, big door to an, obviously, big bedroom. It knocked softly.  
  
"Who is it?" called Jareth's voice.  
  
"Room Service," the Shadow replied in a scary high voice.  
  
"Oh, good, its about time. Where have you been - HOLY PEACHES!!!" as Jareth opened his door, he realized that it wasn't the ten minute late Room Service.  
  
"WHO THE (insert Radio Edit) ARE YOU?!?!?!?" Jareth started to slam the door again, but the Black Shadow splashed him in the face with a bottle of liquid and he stumbled backwards.  
  
"AAAAAAAARGH!!! MY MASCARA!!! MY FACE, MY BEUTIFUL FACE!!! I HATE YOU, YOU, YOU BROKEN BOBBLE, YOU!" he fell to his knees in defeat as the Black Shadow Creature entered his room and stood before him.  
  
"I am." started the Black Shadow Creature with a Dramatic Pause, "THE BLACK SHADOW CREATURE!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAA!!!! But my friends usually just call me Mr. Willy."  
  
"Mr. Willy?" asked Jareth slowly, and then his eyes grew wide in realization.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO *gasp, deep breath* OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
The Evil Black Shadow Creature, Mr. Willy,'s laughter could be heard as well.  
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A/N: well, what do ya think? That was rude, I know. ^_^ tell meh what ya think. Well, you don't HAVE to, its not required, but if you DO want to ya can. ^_~ 


	2. Sarah's parents catch J in S's bedroom!

A/N: oh, the crowd likes the humor, then? I'm not good at writing it, but. if you insist! ^_^ I'll try not to go overboard. This was naturally going to be a total drama fic. ^_^ ah, the power of reviews.  
  
Disclaimer: *sighs* okay, we all know what I'm going to say here, right? If no, then........ I do not own. 'scuse me while I go search for my anti- depression coffee.  
  
Chapter Started: 3/8/03 Chapter Finished 3/9/03  
  
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third person POV, Sarah's Bedroom  
  
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Sarah was sleeping in bed (this, by the way, is about the same time Jareth is attacked) at night. Just............. sleeping. Dreaming about you-know- who, of course, as well. Anyway, she was sleeping in bed, dreaming, when she woke up suddenly from a yell. No, she didn't yell, she heard a yell (and it woke her up). It sounded rather like Jareth's voice.  
  
"I'm going crazy," she muttered, looking around snoozily. "Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, I need you!" her mirror flashed a little, and then out popped Hoggle. "What's wrong, Sarah?" he asked  
  
After Hoggle came Sir Didymus, on His trusty steed's back. "My Lady, what dost thou ask of us?" he asked.  
  
Then, after Hoggle and Sir Didymus came Ludo, or his head and shoulders at least. "LWUDO STUUUUUUCK!" he cried.  
  
"Ssh, you guys, don't wake up my dad or Karen or Toby. And I called you because I thought I heard Jareth yell. You know, the Goblin King. Is everything okay in the Labyrinth?" she patted the bed next to her, and Hoggle, Sir Didymus (how do you spell Ambrocious's name?? Did I do that right?) and Ambrocious sat next to her. Ludo appeared a few minutes later after he had decided that going in head first wasn't going to work.  
  
"No, everything's fine," Sir Didymus said. "At least with us it is. Jareth's been locked up in his room ever since you left."  
  
"Living off of room service," Hoggle put in. "I kind of feel sorry for him."  
  
"What about you, Ludo?" asked Sarah.  
  
"Lwudo." Ludo stopped for a moment, trying to remember the question. "Lwudo feel sworry for Gwoblin Man." He decided at last, hoping that it had something remotely to do with whatever Sarah had said.  
  
"Well," Sarah said haltingly, "You guys could've told me before hand. Poor Jareth. I think that we should cheer him up!"  
  
"why?"  
  
"Yes, why? He's the evil Goblin King in case you've forgotten. He stole your brother!"  
  
"Well, actually, I've been thinking about that." Sarah explained. "I was young then, and Toby was a baby,"  
  
"Your STILL young, fifteen Sarah, and Toby is STILL a baby! Its only been a month!"  
  
"AND," Sarah continued, ignoring the interruption, "Jareth was only being nice by doing what I asked. now that I think of it, he was being rather sweet."  
  
"You mean like the Fairy?" snickered Hoggle. "It bit you, remember?"  
  
"Yes, well, I have a feeling that Jareth WON'T bite. Not me, at least, without my permission" she added with a smirk.  
  
"Peace Lady Sarah, Sir Hoggle!" Sir Didymus broke in loudly. "and I agree with the Fair Maiden, Sir Hoggle. King Jareth does seem to fancy her a bit,"  
  
"Fancy??" Sarah asked. "Hey, when did I say something like 'fancy'? I meant that maybe we and Jareth could be friends!" (A/N: no, don't worry, this is a J/S.)  
  
"OH, um, aye My Lady, I meant 'fancy' as in, um, Bosom Buddies!" (that's the American translation for 'bosom companions'!) Sir Didymus did NOT want to see Sarah in Scary mode. He, Hoggle and Ludo had only seen Scary-mode- Sarah once, and it had been very scary.  
  
Hoggle saw the warning signs and was quick to take Sir Didymus's side of the 'bosom buddies' thing. "Yeah Sarah, in the Labyrinth we consider fancy- ing the same as, like, bosom-companions and love the ame as, err, strongly liked!" Sir Didymus and Ludo and Sarah stared at him.  
  
"Wow, you people from the Labyrinth are weird," Sarah said after a moment.  
  
"But," Ludo started (for he had been listening) "Gwoblin man wuv Sarah!"  
  
"HE MEANS," Hoggle put in, throwing a look in Ludo's direction, "Wuv.. le. Wuvle! It's another way of saying really, really close friends!"  
  
"Aye, My Lady!"  
  
"Oh." Sarah blinked. For some reason the Labyrinth was sounding weirder and weirder by the minute. "Well, anyway, um, where were we?"  
  
"Biting Goblin Kings," Sir Didymus said.  
  
"Yes, thank you. Now, as I was-" Sarah slowly stopped talking and stood up, going over to the window and opening it. "OH. MY. GOLLY." She said, looking out. Outside there was. SNOW!  
  
"Its in the middle of June!" Sarah said exasperatedly. "And what kind of snow is this?? Its warm!" she scooped some from her outside window sill and showed it to Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo.  
  
"What, is it supposed to be cold?" asked Hoggle. "SNWOW!" Said Ludo happily.  
  
"YES, its supposed to be freezing," Sarah explained. "AND its NOT supposed to snow in June."  
  
"Well, in the Underground the snow is warm, and it snows whenever the ruler of the Labyrinth says for it to," Hoggle noted.  
  
"So, Jareth's making it snow in the Labyrinth? But then, why is it snowing here, too? The media is gonna be all over this!"  
  
"Well," Sir Didymus said slowly, "It could be that King Jareth isn't making it snow, and he's here, but someone else in the Labyrinth is. See - if Jareth isn't in the Labyrinth, anybody could do whatever they wanted, but it would also happen wherever Jareth is too."  
  
"So, Jareth is here? Now? And something's doing something in the Labyrinth. Who?"  
  
"Well, there are only a couple of people down in the Labyrinth that could do that. Ruling over that maze is pretty hard, ya know. The first is the Fairy queen, and Jareth dethroned her after she tried to take over the Labyrinth. The other is. oh no."  
  
Hoggle looked at Sir Didymus. "You don' suppose it could be.....?"  
  
"Nay," said Sir Didymus. "Jareth exiled him, remember?"  
  
"Who?" asked Sarah. "Who did Jareth exile?"  
  
"um," Hoggle thought a moment. "Its sorta complicated. In Aboveground terms, I suppose that he 'got rid of' his step brother, an Evil-looking Black Shadow Creature. His name is," Hoggle paused (for dramatic effect) "Mr. Willy!"  
  
"SAY NOT THAT NAME!" cried Sir Didymus, clapping his hands to his ears. Or, clapping his ears down onto his head. Ambrocious whimpered and arfed and shuddered, then jumped back through the mirror into the Labyrinth in blind panic. Ludo made a tiny "eep!" noise and fainted. Hoggle clapped a hand over his mouth and quickly shut the window, looking out it in fear.  
  
Sarah, however, burst out laughing. "Mr. Willy?" she choked (Ludo "eep!"ed again and fainted [again], Hoggle jumped, and Sir Didymus squeezed his ears down more) "What kind of a name is that? Sheesh! Haha, he sounds like a.......... Oh. My. Good. Lord." She stared at her bed. So Hoggle and Sir Didymus (Ludo fainted and Ambrocious left, remember?) turned to look at it too.  
  
"HOLY. CHOCOLATE. COVERED. DINOSAURS." Sarah couldn't think of anything chocolate-covered that was Holy at the same time. It was illogical - DINOsaur-shaped chocolates weren't considered Gods unless you count that one guy from that one Rugrats episode, but that doesn't count. As for a religious aspect - okay, do we have to go there? Sarah is NAÏVE in case you've forgotten.  
  
Anyhow, the reason that I just spent an entire paragraph on "Holy Chocolate Covered Dinosaurs" was because on Sarah's bed was (DUN DUN DUNN!) King Jareth the Goblin King!!! Except. he looked strange for some reason. Sarah couldn't figure it out. Maybe it was because he was sleeping? Nah, that couldn't be it. then what.........?  
  
"Where's his make-up?" asked Hoggle innocently, and that remark was enough to wake Ludo up. "Mwake-wup?" he asked sleepily. Then he saw Jareth, thought a moment, then stood up and stood behind Sarah. "Gwoblin Man!" he cried in slight apprehension.  
  
"Dude, that is just plain. I mean, what's going. why is he here?" Sarah looked first to Hoggle, then Sir Didymus, then to Ludo. "I know not, Fair maiden," said Sir Didymus. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"  
  
"You mean, wake him? That would be rude!"  
  
"Yes, well," Hoggle pointed out, "He IS sleeping in YOUR bed withOUT YOUR permission."  
  
Ah, thought Sarah. Good point. "Uh, Jareth? Mr. Make-up-wearing-Goblin-guy? Are you going to wake up. please?" he didn't wake up. He didn't even move. For a second Sarah thought he was dead, but his forehead was still warm, so he was still alive. but then, who knows with these make-up-wearing-guys- Fairy-biting-warm-snow-in-the-middle-of-June people? For all she knew cold could mean living, and warm could mean dead. Hesitantly, she pulled the lid of one of his eyes open before dropping it closed again.  
  
"Uh, guys? I think that he's dead." She said sadly, ignoring his rising and lowering chest and the fluttering of lashes. (can guys' eyelashes flutter? I've never gotten off my butt to test the theory, so if somebody else would like to do it for me.) "IN FACT," she went on dramatically. "I think that we should have a funeral. Right here. Now.  
  
"Here? Now? Funeral? For him?" repeated Hoggle.  
  
"Yes, now, here, a FUNERAL, for HIM." She pointed sternly at Jareth, who's eyes opened. He groaned a little at the severe headache the he was feeling. "Now, hold these," she gave a paper flower to Ludo, Sir Didymus, Hoggle.  
  
Sarah took 'The Labyrinth' and opened it like a bible.  
  
"Bow your heads," Sarah instructed to Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus, "And act like your all sad and stuff. Like your King just died or something." Hoggle gave a whispered, "Yes!" but stopped grinning and lowered his gaze sadly when Sarah hit him with a spoon from out of nowhere.  
  
"Now," Sarah snapped, adopting a sad, monotone voice and looking in her Play Book as though she were reading it.  
  
"We are gathered here today to mourn, mourn for the loss of our Beloved King Jareth." She said sadly. "For he whom has died at such a young age - uh, um, twenty-five. Twenty-five - such a young age to pass in battle. So young to carry a sword. So young to die. Die in battle. Our hearts will always be with you Jareth. Goodbye." She slowly closed 'The Labyrinth' and cast her paper flower over Jareth's form. The others followed suit, and Hoggle sniffled. "You never know much they mean to you until they're gone," he said before busting into tears. Sir Didymus comforted him. "There, there, Gallant Hoggle. We all must leave at some point, for we are all mortal. Just think of him as passing on to a better place." "BUT he's immortal!" Hoggle wailed, and Sir Didymus continued to pat his back consolingly.  
  
"This has hit us all hard," Sarah said, and sent a half glare at Ludo. "aren't you sad, Ludo?" she asked.  
  
"Swad?" Ludo thought a moment, then turned and went through the window to the Labyrinth (Sarah's vanity mirror) there he tried to throw himself in head and shoulders first again. the result? "LWUDO STUUUUUUUK!!!" he cried.  
  
"Come, Sir Hoggle. Let us go to my home, and I shall get you something warm to drink." With the efforts of Sarah, Hoggle and Sir Didymus combined, they managed to push Ludo the rest of the way through (he needs to lose some weight, Sarah thought) and follow after. Then her mirror became a mirror again. And in it, she looked at Jareth's prone form and gasped. He had slowly sat up, and there was definitely something different about him.  
  
"Jareth?" she asked, turning around to face him. "Aren't you dead?"  
  
"dead?" he echoed faintly. She got up and walked over to him. "I guess you aren't. I'll tell Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus tomorrow. Right now, can you remember what happened?"  
  
"happened?"  
  
"Yeah, you know, how you got here."  
  
"got here?" Jareth frowned, then slowly he began to remember.  
  
Sarah stared at him silently for well over an hour, when he finally remembered everything. His voice was its usual cocky-Goblin King voice when he spoke again.  
  
"I fear, Sarah, that I have been hit with an anti-aging potion." He stated this matter of factly, and didn't state it to Sarah, but to the mirror over her shoulder. Sarah glanced over at it, then looked to Jareth again and gasped. Then she remembered too. In the Labyrinth he had looked around thirty or so. When she had given the funeral, she had guessed at his age by his looks and said that he was twenty-five. Now he looked around eighteen.  
  
"I think that since I'm in the Aboveground it'll be slowed down by now." He said softly. (A/N: *grins* oh yeah, I'm SO smart. Eighteen and fifteen are perfect. HA! TAKE THAT YOU OLDER-WOMEN-MEN-LOVERS!!!) now he turned his gaze to Sarah and stood up.  
  
She noticed how different he looked. His hair wasn't as long and fly-away as it had been before. Now it was a golden-blond with white-blond highlights, and it came smoothly to just above his shoulders. His eyes, instead of being mismatched were. still mismatched, but the colors were deeper.  
  
"Oh." She said after a moment. "So, uh, you going back to the Labyrinth anytime soon?"  
  
"don't you think I've been trying?"  
  
"no, you aren't even moving."  
  
"I don't have to move in order to turn into an owl."  
  
"ah."  
  
There was a loooooooooong, loooooooooong, LOOOOOOOOOOONG moment of silence until Sarah spoke again.  
  
"So, uh, you just plan on staying here, do you?"  
  
"for the time being."  
  
"Touch Toby and die."  
  
"I've no interest whatsoever in Tobias Williams, Sarah. You wished him away, remember?"  
  
"Shut up, your ruining my - OH NO, ITS SIX THIRTY-TWO!!!" Sarah danced on the spot. Karen always woke up at six thirty-two and came in and stared at her when she thought that Sarah was sleeping. What would she do if she saw a boy in Sarah's bedroom RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER BED?!?!?? (A/N: my parents would freak and jump to conclusions. What about yours?) Karen would DEFINITELY freak and jump to conclusions. Conclusions that were the LAST thing on Sarah's mind. Conclusions that weren't EVEN on Sarah's mind!  
  
"You have to hide! Get out of here! Go to your precious Labyrinth and kidnap somebody else's kid!" she pointed wildly at her vanity mirror. Jareth huffed. "I do NOT kidnap children, Sarah! What do you think I am, some sort of Goblin King??" he froze and rethought that last line. "I do NOT kidnap children, Sarah! What do you think I am, some sort of perverted chicken?!?" there, that would do nicely.  
  
"No, but Karen will if she sees you in front of my bed!"  
  
"So? I'm not even ON it, and neither are you. What would she think is perverted chicken-y about that?"  
  
"Because SHE'S a perverted chicken, and will jump to nassssssssty conclusions!"  
  
"'nasssssssty conclusions'? what are those?"  
  
"Haven't you ever seen Lord of the Rings??? Never mind, just go back to your Labyrinth!"  
  
"I CAN'T, haven't you been listening to a word I've said? I-"  
  
"SHUSH!!!"  
  
They both shut up and listened. The soft sound of feet in pink bunny rabbit slippers was heard, coming towards Sarah's bedroom. Then they stopped. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, the handle began to turn with a tiny squeak. (A/N: ever seen Jurassic Park? Like that.)  
  
Then suddenly, everything is in slow-mo! (like in Shrek with the dragon, or Monsters Inc. at the scare floor) Sarah sloooooowly jumps into the air with a long, low, slow "noooooooooooo!!!" and she flies slowly through the air. And Jareth slowly looks up and his eyes slowly get all wide and he starts to back up with a long, low, slow "Hoooooolyyyyy Peeeaaaacheeeeesssssss!!!" and as Jareth tries to back up the back of his legs hit the bed and he slowly starts to fall backward onto it, and Sarah is still flying through the air and the handle is still turning, and then everything is in normal- mo (you know, like real life) and Sarah tackles Jareth, but it only made things worse because he was already down on the bed and right then Karen opened the door all the way.  
  
There was a looooooooooooong, loooooooooong, LOOOOOOOOONG moment of silence as Karen stared at Sarah and Jareth, who stared right back at her.  
  
"Uh, h-hi Karen, g-good morning. Um, uh, um, are you, uh, hungry at all? I think t-that there's, um, some ch-cheerios downstairs o-on the re-re-re- refrigerator, and." she trailed off. The three of them stared at each other for another long moment. A really, really, REALLY long moment that turned into an hour. So now it was SEVEN thirty-two, and Robert (that is Sarah's dad's name, right?) was up and about to leave for work now.  
  
"Karen, honey, have you seen my yellow spotted moo-man tie?" he called.  
  
"Robert, dearest, come look at this, please."  
  
"but-"  
  
"COME!"  
  
He rushed up the stairs and down the hall and stared at Sarah and Jareth. So now the FOUR of them stared at each other, still in the same positions, until Karen finally broke the silence.  
  
"This is all your fault," she snarled at Robert. "I've tried and tried, but she won't listen to me! and now look what she's done, just to spite me!"  
  
"I wouldn't do anything like THAT just to spite YOU! It would mean I care! Well, I don't! besides, dad hasn't done anything! I DO have a sense of moral, you know!" Sarah, however, was frozen on the spot. What should she do? I'm going to be grounded until I'm seventeen for this, she thought sadly.  
  
"Then," Robert started, but then sighed and frowned. "Okay. I'll take the day off work to settle this. First of all, Sarah, you go on THAT side of the room. You, son, stay where you are." He turned towards Karen. "Go get Toby. This is obviously a family problem, so the whole family is going to lock themselves in this room until everything is back to normal. He then called in his work and said that his daughter was very sick and he was staying home. Karen disappeared and then returned a moment later with a drowsy Toby in arm. Then Robert closed the door and frowned at Sarah and Jareth. "On THAT side of the room, young lady." He ordered sternly.  
  
Sarah slowly got up (with the help of Jareth pushing her off of him and setting her on her feet) and stumbled to her vanity table, where she collapsed.  
  
Now, Sarah's room was small, as I'm certain you all know, so everybody was rather cramped. Jareth sat cross-legged on Sarah's bed, and Sarah sat at her vanity. Karen was holding Toby and had sat down on a chair in the corner of the bedroom, and Robert paced about in lecture mode.  
  
"I'll question each of you separately." He decided after five minutes (exactly). "You, son, what's your name?" he stood in front of Jareth.  
  
"Well, its certainly not 'son'," Jareth pointed out matter-of-factly. "You mean what I'm called? His Royal Highness."  
  
"You mean His Royal tightness," Sarah said, unable to stop herself. Jareth cocked an eye at her.  
  
"Well, actually," he started, but Robert said, "KIDS" very loudly, and both Jareth and Sarah were shocked into silence at being called a 'kid'. What an insult! To Jareth at least. We all know he ain't no 'kid', right? Right! Oh, and it was an insult to Sarah too.  
  
"Your. Name." Robert snapped dangerously.  
  
"Jareth. But YOU don't have permission to call me that."  
  
"Jareth," Robert said, ignoring Jareth's last remark. "Tell me, Jareth, where do you live?"  
  
"In the Underground."  
  
Robert stared at his and gave a raspy sigh. "Okay, let's try something easier. Where are your parents?"  
  
Jareth scoffed. "My parents are none of your concern. Why do you want to know?"  
  
He shut up at The Look Robert gave him. (A/N: and you thought only GIRLS could give The Look, didn't ya? Well, think again!)  
  
"Um," Jareth said. "My mother ran off with one of the Fairy princes so my dad blew up the Fairy kingdom (and the entire area surrounding), and my father is currently ruling the Southern half of the Underground, the Spirit realm."  
  
It took Robert a while to translate this.  
  
"Your parents are dead? I'm sorry. Who do you live with?" he certainly didn't sound sorry.  
  
"Myself, stupid. Who did you think?"  
  
"Your foster parents," Robert said.  
  
"I don't have foster parents. That's an Aboveground thing - Human crap."  
  
"You're too young to live on your own," Robert said pointedly.  
  
"I am not!" Jareth shot back. "I'm over eighteen hundred!"  
  
This also took Robert a moment to translate into English.  
  
"Eighteen?" he echoed. "Ah. You're a college student."  
  
Jareth stared up at him, then looked past him towards Sarah and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Somebody who learns," Sarah quickly translated. Jareth looked back at Robert. "Well, I guess if you put it that way." he muttered. "Under my circumstances, I suppose. But I'm the King - so don't start thinking I'm turning Human or anything."  
  
Robert rolled his eyes. "Whatever, son. Now, tell me why you were in Sarah's bed."  
  
"I woke up in Sarah's bed," Jareth said. "She thought I was dead and had a funeral."  
  
"Well, what was I supposed to think?" Sarah asked. "You have WARM snow! In the middle of June! For all I knew, you were LONG gone."  
  
"SARAH!" Robert half shouted. "don't talk like that!"  
  
She stared at him. What did I do? She thought innocently.  
  
"Now," Robert turned back to Jareth. "WHY did you fall asleep there."  
  
"I didn't," Jareth said. "See, it's a long story."  
  
"we've got time."  
  
Jareth sighed "Well, it all started last night," he started. "I was awaiting my Room Service (which was ten minutes late) when my arch rival step brother came."  
  
"And who is your step brother?"  
  
"MR. WILLY!" Sarah burst out and roared with laughter. But she stopped when she saw that nobody else saw that this was funny.  
  
"Mr. Willy," Jareth said with a nod. "Don't let his name fool you - my parents were drunk when they came up with that one - he's actually an Evil Black Shadow Creature. Anyway, he came and surprised me. I didn't know it was him until too late - he splashed me with an anti-aging potion in an attempt to kill me, I suppose. BUT, just as I blacked out I managed to grab one of my magic crystals, and it must have transported me here."  
  
Everybody stared at him, and the only noise in the room was Toby's cooing.  
  
"Okay," Robert said haltingly. He then turned towards Sarah, seeing that this Jareth Willy (for surely Willy was his last name) was going to be difficult. "Sarah, I want your version of the story."  
  
Sarah shrugged. "I woke up when I heard a yell. Then I called, my, err, friends, and they told me about Jareth and Mr. Willy. Then I looked outside and there was SNOW! Warm snow! It was warm! Snow! In the middle of June!" she pointed out the window. No snow.  
  
"It evaporated," Jareth noted.  
  
"ANYWAY," Sarah went on, beginning to sweat. Right about now she was realizing how much trouble she was in - this was all Jareth's fault! "When I turned around again, there was Jareth on my bed! So I touched his forehead to see if her was alive, and it was warm; but he has warm snow, so I figured that 'warm' meant that he was dead. So my friends and I had a funeral, and my friends left in tears. Then I sat down here, at my vanity, when I heard JARETH WAKING UP!" she paused. "HE LIIIIIIIIIIIIVES!!!!!" she cried, pointing an accusing finger in Jareth's direction. "Sorry," he apologized. "That's okay," Sarah excepted. Then she turned back to her dad.  
  
"He said that he had been hit with an anti-aging potion. Then he said that sinse he was in the Aboveground here, it would be slowed down. Then I asked him if he was going to leave, and he said that he'd been trying to, but couldn't. then we just stared at each other for a long time, until six thirty-two. That's when Karen always wakes up and comes to stare at me because she thinks I'm sleeping and don't notice."  
  
"I do no such thing!" Karen shouted, going red. Jareth took this opportunity to say, "Perverted chicken!" and he pointed an accusing finger in Karen's direction.  
  
"Sa-wee," Toby apologized. "That's okay," Jareth excepted. (A/N: in my fic, Toby is THREE YEARS OLD!! therefore, this is an AU. I'm sorry if that causes my dearly devoted readers any trouble).  
  
"ANYHOW," Sarah continued. "I figured that I'd get in trouble if she saw a boy in front of my bed, and that she would jump to nasssssssty conclusions. So I told him to get out of here, and to go kidnap somebody else's baby, but he said he didn't kidnap babies, and Toby isn't a baby anyhow."  
  
"RIGHT!" Toby said. Karen clapped her hand to his mouth.  
  
"so," Sarah went on obliviously, "I started to tackle him to hide him, but he backed up and fell on my bed and I landed on him, and then Karen walked in and stared at us. And we stared at her. Then you came like an hour later and then you locked us in here and then you,"  
  
"SARAH," Robert interrupted, "I know. Now, Karen, I want your version of the story."  
  
Karen shrugged and answered as though she were talking about a tornado about to hit, "I came to check on Sarah - she's been acting strange ever since a month ago. But when I opened her door, I saw her and him," she motioned towards Jareth, "And I panicked. And for good reason. Do you realize what could have happened if I hadn't been there?"  
  
"yes, dear," Robert assured her, then placed his hands on his hips and paced a while.  
  
"Here's my theory," he said at last. "Early in the morning, Jareth Willy here comes and throws rocks at Sarah's window," Jareth scoffed. If he wanted in Sarah's bedroom through her window, he'd have done so as an owl. "when she opens it he serenades her," Sarah glanced uneasily at Jareth. She remembered that part of the Labyrinth all too well. "then he goes on to woo her, and seduces her, and she let's him in. right when they're in the position, Karen walks in." He stopped talking and looked from Jareth to Sarah. "well?" he asked.  
  
"Um," Jareth said, "I did serenade her. At the ball - about a month ago."  
  
"You remembered!" Sarah squealed. "Oh, I'd thought you didn't care, and that I was just another girl!"  
  
"I could never forget about you, you're special!"  
  
"Oh, you don't mean that, oh I'm blushing! Am I really - oh, I couldn't have noticed! What a gentleman, wow!"  
  
Jareth and Sarah gave the other a sarcastic look then burst out laughing.  
  
"You two, stop it!" Robert snapped. "I want the truth you two, the TRUTH!"  
  
"But that was," Sarah protested. "Sarah, do you really expect me to believe that?"  
  
she stared disbelievingly at her dad. "But," she started, "That's not fair!"  
  
Jareth grimaced.  
  
"Yes, Sarah, it is. What ISN'T fair is that you two are lying to me. and unless I get the truth I'm going to go along with my theory and you two can guess what'll happen from there."  
  
Sarah blanched. Jareth wondered what time it was - he was hungry, he never had gotten his room service.  
  
"Um," Sarah said wildly. "Just tell the truth, honey," Karen said. Sarah glowered at her. "Sarah, I understand what's gone on - teenage things. And I don't object to you dating, but you should date first. the truth." Robert said gently. Jareth felt very sorry for Sarah until, "ASK JARETH! HE KNOWS!"  
  
Now Jareth didn't feel sorry for Sarah. Now he was very unhappy at her.  
  
"I don't know, do you guys want a lie?" he asked, looking carefully at Robert and Karen. Robert thought a moment. "What we want," he said slowly, "Is a hypothetical situation of what has gone on."  
  
"Ah." Jareth said. They wanted him to say he had seduced Sarah, then. Alrighty, he could do that. Jareth cracked his knuckles and threw a grin (a MALICIOUS grin) in Sarah's direction before saying, "In a VERY hypothetical situation," He started, noting Karen and Robert's complete attention, "Would be that when you guys went to bed, Sarah let me in and we-"  
  
"JARETH, YOU LYING CHEAT!!!" Sarah screamed, jumping to her feet. "What?" asked Jareth defensively. "He wanted a hypothetical situation. And its obvious what TYPE of hypothetical situation he wants. I'm only doing what I'm asked."  
  
but Jareth unfortunately (or fortunately, it depends on your Point of View) hadn't seen Scary-Mode-Sarah, and he hadn't seen the warning signs. (A/N: no, I won't kill him off.)  
  
Sarah jumped to her feet, and Scary-mode-Sarah was unleashed in full fury. Her eyes turned red and serpentine, and she seemed to grow taller and scarier (hence, the name).  
  
"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TELL MY DAD SOMETHING LIKE THAT! HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT POOR TOBY?!? HE'S IN HERE TOO, YA KNOW! HE'S THREE FREAKIN' YEARS OLD! HOW. HOW DARE YOU!!!" and she would have attacked him right then and there, but I have to end this chapter, so I'll tell you what happens later.  
  
TBC!  
  
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A/N: no, really, I'll post faster, I promise. 


	3. Into the Labyrinth!

A/N: um. right, now I'm going to continue where I left off!  
  
Disclaimer: (to the melody of Where oh where has my little dog gone) Where, oh where had my dis-claim-er gone? Oh where, oh where can it be? With its sentences cut short and its spelling cut long, oh where, oh where could it be? In English; I've lost my disclaimer. Therefore, I do not own. Happy?  
  
Chapter Started: 3/9/03 Chapter Finished: 3/9/03  
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Last time, on 'Age has NOTHING to do with it', Jareth proceeded to tell Sarah's father about a hypothetical situation, and Sarah flew into a rage. We left off when Scary-mode-Sarah flew at Jareth, and I guess that that's where we'll pick up!  
  
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"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TELL MY DAD SOMETHING LIKE THAT! HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT POOR TOBY?!? HE'S IN HERE TOO, YA KNOW! HE'S THREE FREAKIN' YEARS OLD! HOW. HOW DARE YOU!!!" and she would have attacked him right then and there, but Robert and Karen each grabbed a hold of one of Sarah's arms and a moment later had her tied down to her bed and Jareth on the opposite side of the room.  
  
"THIS IS CHILD ABUSE!!!" Sarah roared, thrashing against her bonds. "BAD, BAD, NASSSSSSSTY PEOPLE WHO CALL YOURSELVES MY FAMILY!!!" to say she was pissed would have been the Understatement of the Year. "WICKED, WICKED BIRDS!!!"  
  
"Holy Peaches, Sarah, what is with you??" asked Jareth. "YOU TRYING TO TELL MY PARENTS A LIE THAT I KNOW I'LL GET IN TROUBLE FOR!!!"  
  
"They wanted a Hypothetical situation, Sarah."  
  
"THEY WOULD HAVE PRETENDED YOU WERE TELLING THE TRUTH, BUT WAS TOO EMBARRASSED TO SAY IT WAS THE TRUTH!!!"  
  
"ah. That explains a lot. But why are you so scary?"  
  
"BECAUSE I. AM. SCARY-MODE-SARAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"  
  
Toby began to cry.  
  
"Now look what you've done, Sarah! You made Toby cry!"  
  
"TOUCH HIM AND DIE!!!"  
  
"You already told me that."  
  
"WELL I'M TELLING YOU AGAIN!!!"  
  
Toby cried harder, and Karen tried to comfort him, but he thrashed out of her arms and clambered onto Jareth's lap, wailing into his 'shirt', if you could call it that. "JARETH!!!"  
  
"He did it on his own," Jareth excused, patting Toby's narrow back. "It was his choice."  
  
"HE'S THREE!!"  
  
"STOP YELLING, YOUR SCARING THE LOCALS!!!"  
  
Sarah stopped yelling and twisted around to give Jareth a skeptical look. Finally, Scary-Mode-Sarah was gone. "I'm sorry, Toby!" she said as Robert untied her bonds. She then launched herself at Jareth and snatched a sniffling Toby out of his arms. "HE'D better NOT be a Goblin," she warned.  
  
"Look for yourself," Jareth said with a roll of his eyes. Sarah examined Toby up and down, then sat down next to Jareth on the floor.  
  
"I think that you're all pissy because you didn't get any more sleep then a couple of hours," Jareth said.  
  
"I didn't. gee, your smart."  
  
"Heh. Join the club."  
  
Robert cleared his throat. "So, you came earlier on, did you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "GET THEM AWAY FROM MY TOBY!" Karen wailed, and snatched Toby away from Sarah. The babe promptly began to cry, and even when Sarah stood and snatched him back, he continued to wail at the top of his lungs. "Leet me see!" Robert said, but Toby still cried, harder then ever.  
  
With an exasperated sigh, Jareth snatched Toby away and rocked him slightly, conjuring up a crystal for him to hold, which he did, and he quieted down. Jareth handed him back to Sarah, who threw a glare in Karen's direction.  
  
"You do magic tricks," Robert added to his earlier statement. Jareth sighed. "I've had enough of this. I'm leaving." He started towards the door, but Robert stood in his way. "No, Jareth. You are staying here until we get the truth."  
  
"You've got it," Jareth snapped, then whirled on Sarah. "How can you put up with such closed-minded idiots? They have no sense of logic!"  
  
"See what I've been putting up with? I've been rethinking your offer - if it isn't too late. and Toby has to come." Sarah immediately flushed when she realized what she had just said.  
  
"Yes, yes," Jareth said, waving a distracted hand. "What I need to do is Get back to the Underground and Kill Mr. Willy. Then this potion he splashed on me will be gone and THEN I can rethink the Labyrinth," he sighed and massaged a temple.  
  
"Can we help?" Sarah offered, bouncing Toby a little. Jareth raised an eyebrow. "I don't see how, but you can come try if you want."  
  
"Oh, good!" Sarah squealed. "We can be wuvles!"  
  
Jareth wisely decided not to ask what a 'wuvle' was.  
  
Sarah cooed at Toby, "Didjya hear that? We're going back to the Labyrinth!" she said, and Toby found this very funny. "Laby, Laby!" he said excitedly.  
  
"No," Karen broke in. "First of all neither of you are going anywhere. Second of all, Toby belongs to me. he isn't going anywhere with You or with YOU." She said snottily. Sarah gave a hussy sigh and walked calmly over next to Jareth. "Dad, let us out." She ordered.  
  
"No. just the truth - that's all I want. Then you can leave and you'll be grounded."  
  
Sarah sighed. "Say, Jareth, didn't you say that you couldn't get back to the Labyrinth?"  
  
"Not by owl or simple magic. But I or we can walk there, if I concentrate hard enough."  
  
"Oh. Well, let's get going!"  
  
"Sorry, Sarah, my dear, but I'm afraid that there's a road bloke here."  
  
"then let's take a detour."  
  
"any suggestions?"  
  
Sarah jerked her thumb over her shoulder, at the window.  
  
"Oh." Jareth said. "That'll work." And he crossed the room in three long strides and opened the window, throwing the screen out of place. "Yes, it'll have to do." He said, and was out in an instant. He dropped smoothly to the ground.  
  
"EXCUSE ME," Robert shouted, and moved towards the window in a fury, but in an almost panic, Sarah threw Toby out the window with a "CATCH, JARETH!" she could only pray that he had. Now Karen threw her entire upper body out the window. "Toby, Toby!" she cried. "No, give me back my son, please!" Robert tried to do the same, and while they were distracted, Sarah flew out her bedroom door. Both Robert and Karen heard the click, and they both lunged for Sarah at the same time.  
  
But she was downstairs and out the front door in a flash, and Jareth was there waiting for her with Toby in hand. The three year old found all of this madly funny.  
  
"Run!" Sarah shouted, and Jareth held Toby securly in one hand, locking his fingers around Sarah's with his free hand, and the two bolted down the street.  
  
"COME BACK! THIS IS KIDNAPPING!" Robert and Karen roared after them, and followed. But as luck (or not luck, but Sarah saw it as luck) would have it, across the street up a ways was a patrol car. "This way!" Sarah called, tugging on Jareth's hand, leading him to the cop car. The cop was already out, leaning against his door, drinking a cup of coffee (the doughnuts were hidden in the passenger seat). He looked up as Sarah and Jareth approached, panting.  
  
"Please, sir," Sarah gasped. "Those two people are trying to kidnap our son!" she motioned towards Karen and Robert, who were catching up fast, then to Jareth who was leaning over hands on knees, grasping Toby with one arm still.  
  
"seem a bit young to have kids, eh?" asked the cop in an Australian accent. "It's our religion!" Sarah flared up. "we got married and had our child when the Great Chocolate Dinosaur bid us to! And those two people are trying to kidnap our son!"  
  
To say the cop was taken aback, well, let's just say that he was surprised.  
  
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, miss, uh, err, Mrs., um?"  
  
"Sarah," she gasped, and threw a frantic look over her shoulder to Karen and Robert.  
  
"Sarah, I think that maybe we should go now," Jareth said. Toby giggled and clapped his little palms together. "Bad, bad!" he laughed, and waved his arms around. "Yes, they're very bad, Toby, hold on, Jareth," Sarah said in a warning tone. Then she turned back to the cop. "please, can you cover our backs?"  
  
"I think that it'd be better to take this to the court and settle it there," the cop started, but Jareth grabbed Sarah's hand with his free one.  
  
"No time, gotta go, bye!" he shouted over his shoulder, dragging Sarah. He slowed his pace a bit so that she could run as well.  
  
"Don't worry, Mrs. Sarah!" the cop called after them as Karen and Robert stopped at his car.  
By the time Sarah and Jareth slowed to a slow and tired walk, both were panting heavily and barely able to pick up their feet. Or at least, Sarah was. Jareth recovered rather quickly (having a younger body, see, more energy). Toby was rather disgruntled from being carried so long in a running motion, and grumbled as Jareth handed him so Sarah. "Okay," he said. "Its just mind work and walking from here."  
  
So they began walking. Sarah was dragging her feet and wondering how she could have gotten into this mess, and Jareth practically dragged her, eyes vacant in concentration. So it was that only little Toby noticed their surroundings change, albeit slowly at first, and he made a number of noises including all the words he knew to try to tell Sarah. She grunted and shifted him into a different position, on her hip.  
  
When she DID finally notice, it was because her foot had sunk into a reddish sand, and she looked up to see the Labyrinth at a distance. A very long distance. She groaned - it was only a spot on the horizon, and barely able to be seen in the sun's rays. She looked behind them and was shocked to see the road and her street protruding from the land of the Underground.  
  
"Change, change!" Toby said proudly. "Yeah, I'll say," Sarah said through a constricted throat. She looked up at Jareth, whose arm she was hanging on, and cocked her head slightly at the calculating look on his face. Wisely, she said nothing.  
  
Finally, after what seemed like forever, she dropped to her knees and cried something about not being able to go on any longer. Jareth stopped and turned around to look at her. In his arms, Toby slept soundly (for he had long taken him from Sarah when he started to snooze.  
  
"What, tired?" he asked. Sarah looked behind her and saw that there was just barren land surrounding them. She looked back to Jareth. "Are we there?" she asked hoarsly.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How long?"  
  
"About a couple of hours. If you were tired you should have said something."  
  
"Sorry, I thought you were still concentrating!" she fell back and laid there on the ground. she was very tired.  
  
"Come on, Sarah," Jareth said, pulling her to her feet. She made a small noise of complaint. "It'll take us a while to get to the Labyrinth," he said. "And it isn't safe to walk at night in the Wild Lands." And with that he managed to sweep her into his arms, and balance Toby over his shoulder at the same time. "Very strong," Sarah mumbled before falling asleep.  
  
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When Sarah woke up again, she was on Jareth's back this time, and toby was balnced on his hip. The sun was sinking behind them slowly, and Jareth plodded on. "Jareth?" she asked softly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Aren't you tired?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not? And you can put me down, I feel rested now," Sarah slid off Jareth's back and took Toby from him, cradling him to her chest.  
  
"Magic. As long as I'm in the Underground I'll keep all of my strength until I sit down or lay down. In which case, I wouldn't be able to fight the fatigue. It wouldn't be wise to leave you and Toby defenseless in the Wild Lands. We have to get into Labyrinthine territory. Almost there."  
  
They plodded on for a while in silence when suddenly Jareth groaned and keeled over. "Jareth!" Sarah shouted, and ran over to him. She rolled him over and gasped. He looks even younger! She realized. Indeed, his features were younger and smaller looking. He looked almost drastically different from the Goblin King she had first met.  
  
Now his golden-blond hair with white-blond highlights came only to just below his ears (which, Sarah gasped as she noticed, were slightly pointed), and his skin was paler, smoother, younger. He size also was greatly reduced, and Sarah realized he seemed maybe sixteen or fifteen by now. Her age, or a little older. "Jareth!" she called, and set Toby down to try to wake him up. "Jareth, wake up!" she begged. "JARETH!" he twitched slightly, and forced his eyes open.  
  
"Sarah," he whispered, and Sarah found that his voice was a lot younger too. "you look younger," she offered, balancing his head on her lap. "Bad," he muttered.  
  
"Bad," echoed Toby, who had woken up. The sun was almost completely gone, and Sarah remembered what Jareth had said about the Wild Lands. "Jareth," she asked Tentatively. "Are we in Labyrinthine territory? Jareth? JARETH!" she shook him and he opened his eyes again. They were different, Sarah noticed - still mismatched, but that was hardly visible because they were so dark in each color.  
  
"Are we in Labyrinthine territory?" she asked in a softer tone. Jareth made a face and forced himself up. Sarah marveled somewhat at his will. "No," he said hoarsely. "Have to go on," and he managed to get to his knees before collapsing again. This time he didn't move or open his eyes, and Sarah thought he was dead. His forehead was still warm - but, she scowled, that wouldn't tell her anything. So she did something slightly more logical - she checked his pulse. Still beating, his heart.  
  
"He's alive," she gasped in relief, and Toby hugged her waist and whimpered. "Dark," he whined. Sarah looked over her shoulder at the sun just as it disappeared completely and they were thrown into darkness. No moon, no stars, no light. Sarah panicked for a moment, hugging Jareth and Toby to her, when there was a twinge and she looked up. The stars were appearing! Thirteen only, though, she noted. Thirteen bright, shining stars that lit up the land around her, Jareth and Toby a little, and her eyes adjusted to the dark quickly enough.  
  
So therefore, they did not mistake the black shaped moving in on all sides, or her ears make her think that in the complete silence of night there were low, dangerous growls. Sarah swallowed. This was bad - oh, it wasn't fair! She didn't deserve to die like this, and neither did the others! Well, Jareth, maybe, but Toby was only three!  
  
Another growl, right next to her. Toby cried out, and Sarah screamed and lashed out with her foot. She felt her shoe connect with coarse fur, and whatever it was came about to her waist in height maybe, and weighed a lot more then she did. So it didn't do much other then to make the beast stumble back a bit, snarl, then it leapt at Sarah again. She screamed, and Toby burst into tears, hugging Jareth's arm, wailing in horror. Again, Sarah lashed out with her feet, throwing herself halfway across Jareth's prone form, one arm trying to protect Toby, the other she held in front of her face to protect it from the claws that were sinking into her elbow.  
  
"No!" she screamed. "Help, somebody, please! HELP!" she stopped crying for help and a wail was torn from her throat as a white hot knife seemed to rip into her side. She screamed again and again, drowning out the snarls and growls and even Toby's voice, kicking with all of her might, flailing her free arm, screaming herself beyond hoarse.  
  
Then, finally, suddenly, unexpectedly but welcomed, one of her feet hit home, and a yelp was heard. Almost immediately the other.. Things saw the easier, not fighting prey, and they leapt upon their comrade. Sarah gasped and took the chance to garb Jareth's arm and Toby around his waist. All she could hear was a strange buzzing in her ears, all she could feel was the excruciating pain on her left side of her stomach, just below her ribcage, all she could say was scream, scream incoherent words, and run, dragging the two boys (or, holding one and dragging the other which was very difficult. Sarah was running on pure adrenaline now).  
  
The beasts (Which Sarah now decided could be classified as either small bears or full-grown very hungry, angry wolves) quickly finished up their former comrade and ran after Sarah, easily seeing her in the darkness and needn't have bothered anyway since her screams could have woken the dead. Toby was past wailing - he had passed out.  
  
One of the "wolves" snapped at Sarah's legs, and she stumbled and paused to kick it with all of her might in the jaw. It was then that she realized her socks and shoes were gone, and her feet were stinging with every step. Then, as luck would have it, the "wolves" began to slow down, then finally gathered as a small heard or something in a sort of line, and snarled after her. One of them howled, and that chilling sound made Sarah stumble again, and she fell. Her sobs echoed about, and she could sense her own unconsciousness nearing, but she hesitated at embracing it.  
  
No, those beasts could come at any moment, though why they had stopped was beyond Sarah. She struggled to her knees and looked behind her over her shoulder. The wolves were all sitting, their yellow and/or green eyes flashing in the thirteen stars' little light. One of them got up and paced, growling, then it started to jump towards her, but something stopped it, and it recoiled with a snarl. What had stopped it? Sarah didn't care. She dropped Toby and Jareth, and collapsed face first on the ground, giving up, finally.  
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A/N: not bad, in my opinion. Sorry for the lack of "humor", but I did intend this fic to be somewhat horror-ific. ^_~ review if you want, I like Constructive Criticism, and I like making sure that my stories are well proof-read, you know, being beta-readerless and all. Anyhow, bye-ee! P.S. sorry thiscame out so late - FF.Net and that whole slow thing. But that's okay b/c everything's better then before now! ^_~ anyhow, I'll go type the next chapter. 


	4. Jareth wakes up!

A/N: I'm back! And I'm sorta sad that nobody is Constructively Criticizing me. *sniff* I know I'm making mistakes - I don't proofread my chapters, so there HAS to be mistakes, but nobody is pointing them out. *frowns* I wouldn't be offended or anything - I just need a beta is all. *walks off sadly dragging feet*  
  
Disclaimer: no, I uh, I kind of don't own Labyrinth. Or Jareth. Or Sarah. Or Toby.  
  
Chapter Started: 3/14/03 (HAPPY PI DAY!!!) Chapter Finished: 3/16/03  
  
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it was at that moment that Sarah passed out that Jareth woke up. See, Sarah's screaming worked as a belated alarm clock - kinda like mine. It usually goes off for a half an hour before I wake up, that's why Jareth didn't wake up before. Now, where was I? Oh yeah. He woke up and pushed himself almost painfully to a sitting position. He froze when he saw the Wolves sitting there, watching him silently, but then relaxed when he recognized the wouldn't come into Labyrinthine territory.  
  
What happened? He knew that he........ what had he been doing? Jareth groaned and caressed his temples for a moment before he remembered. He had passed out just before nightfall, before they had gotten into Labyrinthine territory. That meant that. that Sarah had brought him and Toby here. At night? With the Wild Creatures about? Quickly he looked down on himself (swearing slightly at how much more younger he looked) and to his right, and started checking Toby for injuries. He was scratched a bit but nothing more than pale and shaken looking. Then he took in a breath and looked over at Sarah.  
  
She was on her stomach, head turned away from him. Her right arm was stretched above her head, bent at the wrist, and had four long, deep gashes on it between her wrist and elbow. They were still bleeding slightly. Her other arm was beneath her, and her legs were stretched out behind her, barely in Labyrinthine territory.  
  
Carefully, Jareth checked her pulse, then felt for broken bones before deeming it safe to roll her onto her back. He groaned. Again.  
  
Like Toby, she was unusually pale and had quite a few scratches. Her shirt was ripped (the vest lost) and was a bright crimson color on her side away from him. Her feet were bruised and bloodied too - they almost looked broken, but were fine to the touch. The bleeding there had just begun to stop, the Labyrinth's magic washing over the trio.  
  
But, he groaned again as he realized this, when he tentatively traced her side, trying to find where he could pull the shreds of fabric away, it became clear that it was still bleeding, though not heavily. Work of the magic of his realm, he guessed. After a moment, he managed to get the entire shirt off, and turned it inside out where it was mostly clean, to stop the bleeding. Infections were easily set in on Mortal Humans, see.  
  
The thirteen stars' light was enough for him to see clear as day - magic, once again! And the Wolves growled when they smelled the blood anew.  
  
"Og, stsaeb, ereht si on doof ereh rof uoy." He snapped at them. A few snarled and left, but the bigger ones stayed, glaring unblinkingly at him impassively.  
  
Jareth just sighed and checked Sarah's wound again. She groaned, and stirred. "Sarah?" he asked softly.  
  
"Toby," she gasped, opening her eyes and trying to make sense of Jareth's vague form above her. "Where is Toby? Is he okay?"  
  
"Toby is fine," Jareth murmured. "He's sleeping now, just here." He took one of Sarah's hands and guided it to Toby's small form, which Jareth had also rolled onto his back.  
  
"Is he dead?" Sarah asked flatly.  
  
"No. I fear that you are more likely to die."  
  
"Why?" then Sarah felt it - I mean, she wasn't ignoring the pain. you can't exactly ignore the pain of having half your side ripped out, that's a physical impossibility. She was just more worried about Toby, and once she knew that he was safe, she relaxed slightly and felt The Pain. Ouch.  
  
"Ooooh, that hurts," she gasped, reaching down to her side. "Those.. those monsters, they, they attacked! They, they, they're still here!" she pointed wildly at the remaining wolves, panicked of course, and adrenaline gave her cause to jump to her feet and stumble backwards before falling on her butt again, heaving, clutching her side. I think that I'd have gone into shock about now, but this is the Labyrinth we're talking about, so just pretend that a lot of the pain is dulled by the Labyrinth's magic, no matter how weakened it was by Mr. Willy (who, I might add, is still here).  
  
"They won't attack again," Jareth soothed, standing as well. "We're in Labyrinthine Territory - that's why your wounds have already started healing, and so much of the pain is dulled, and your awake."  
  
"It still hurts," Sarah pointed out, her eyes filling with tears. She removed her shirt that was pressed to her side and inspected the not-so- freely-bleeding-now gash. "It still hurts," she gasped softly, repeating her earlier statement. It looked more worse then it was, really.  
  
"Sarah," Jareth said gently, walking over and kneeling in front of her. "Your bumps and bruises will heal, in time, the Labyrinth and your body should handle that easily enough. But they won't heal properly if they aren't clean, so I know you're weak, but we've got to get to the castle, the sooner the better."  
  
"What about Mr. Willy?"  
  
"He's Aboveground looking for me. I can feel it, so we're safe here. And when he does come back, he'll go to his own place (wherever that may be) because the Labyrinth is under my control now that I'm here. Chances are he'll sneak back in and actually kill me, but I'd rather kill him first. and I can't do that if your infected in every region of your body, so let's go."  
  
He helped her stand, just as a cool night wind came and swept about. (A/N: *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* you know what's comin'!)  
  
There was a moment of silence, in which the camera zooms a hundred miles away and stares happily at the sky, while there is a distant echo of, "YOU PERVERT!!!"  
  
Then the camera pans down to the horizon and watches wolves, bears, wolfbears, and other evil creatures cower before the horrifying sound of Scary-mode-Sarah that's wounded and PMSing at the same time. Shouting like that continues, replacing 'perv' with other such things, some more colorful than others, and about an hour later it zooms back to Sarah and Jareth, Toby now held protectively in front of a flushed Sarah, whose Scary-Mode has finally worn itself out with her fatigue.  
  
"You, you, you," she mumbled, searching for a word she hadn't used yet. Jareth sighed after staring at her for a moment longer. Toby was still out of it.  
  
"What was I supposed to use, Sarah? My own shirt? I doubt that you'd have liked traveling the rest of the way to the castle with me shirtless."  
  
This shut Sarah up. Actually, she thought, I wouldn't have minded that as much.  
  
"Well, I'D rather not travel to the castle shirtless as well!"  
  
"You already have that thing on."  
  
"This? Jareth, this is called a bra. Define - sports bra. Its an undergarment! Doesn't the word 'undergarment' mean anything to you?"  
  
"Uh, no, um, no, not really."  
  
Sarah gave a frustrated sigh and stamped her foot, hugging Toby closer to her chest and stomach, growling at the pain in her side and now throbbing foot. "YOU, you, Jareth, please don't tell me you don't know, oh, say, what something like UNDERWEAR IS, PERHAPS?!?"  
  
Jareth simply blinked. "Um, I know what that is, but I don't get the whole ban thing or whatever it is you call it."  
  
"bra."  
  
"yeah, bra. What did I say?"  
  
"Look, Jareth, this is important!"  
  
"what's so important about bras?"  
  
"YOU," Sarah took a deep breath. "YOU ARE THE MOST MODESTLY CHALLENGED GUY I'VE EVER MET!!!!! I'D RATHER YOU WERE ONE OF THOSE SHY, PASSIVE DUDES WHO BREAK THE RULES TRYING TO BE COOL! Well, actually, then I wouldn't logically, but that's not my point! My point is that YOU," she paused for another deep breath. "YOU. ARE. SO. WEIRD!" there. She had said it.  
  
Jareth stared at her. He wondered briefly if being 'weird' was a compliment, but decided that it wasn't by flushed look on Sarah's face.  
  
"Modesty is not an issue, Sarah," he reprimanded gently. "Besides, its nothing I haven't seen before."  
  
"PERVERT!" Sarah repeated.  
  
"I didn't need to know if you were virgin or not, I didn't want to know THAT, I just want something." she sighed, "Something like another shirt or something. Not yours."  
  
"I am VIRGIN, thank you very much, and Toby obviously can't give you his. Besides, like I said before, you have that brat thing on. Define - sports brat. (A/N: chocolate covered dinosaurs to the person who got that!). and your wounds need to heal in open air, your covered - though I really don't get all this modesty stuff - so it all works out."  
  
"No, Jareth, it doesn't." Sarah exhaled slowly, and adjusted Toby (still outta it). "and don't patronize me. look, I just, we, I mean," Sarah sighed again. Does that a lot, doesn't she?  
  
"Your embarrassed," Jareth stated matter-of-fact. "I can tell. This really bothers you, doesn't it?"  
  
"YES! What, do women walk around shirtless in this place?" Sarah frowned. "ARE there any women in this place? or, any other humans other then you?"  
  
"I'm not Human, I'm part elf part fairy. And no other humans. You might count the human-Goblins, but I bet you won't. I rule the Labyrinth alone. But before I took over this place, I was born and raised in the Northern Underground. Its like Aboveground parks there, I suppose you might say, very beautiful. and not only do my kind dwell there, but Elves and other such creatures as well (duh). And in celebrations and stuff the women always wore open jackets - so, like I said, nothing I haven't seen before. Oh, and I'm NOT patronizing you."  
  
Sarah stared. "You mean, this place is like Medieval times? Freaky." She took a deep, calming breath. "Okay," she sighed. "I've worn belly shirts and I've got a two-piece swim-suit, so I can handle this, I'm cool," she paused, "Just. just don't look, okay?"  
  
"Sure," Jareth offered, then uncrossed his arms (they'd been crossed, you see).  
  
"So, am I allowed to look at your side now?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Sarah, if it gets infected you could very well die. Aren't you feeling light headed by now? You've lost a lot of blood, and its still bleeding a little. The pain will only increase," Jareth thought a moment, then his a knowing smile. "Think of Toby. Do you think that he could use a dead sister about now?"  
  
Sarah shook her head. "No," she sighed. "I suppose not. But, like I said before, don't look at anything."  
  
"I won't," Jareth assured.  
  
Sarah shifted Toby (like mentioned before, he's still in goo-goo-baby-three- year-old-boy-space-land.)  
  
Jareth (using any part of her shirt that wasn't dirty, which was very little) brushed unwanted blood away and inspected the gash. It was actually two gashes, both lighter then they appeared, the bleeding finally stopped. Jareth silently prayed a thank you to his Labyrinth's fast-paced magic as he tended the teeth marks as best he could.  
  
"Its not too bad," he reported absentmindedly, and tore his shirt into the proper strips, then tied them securely around Sarah's side, bandaging the cuts. He then stood (he had been kneeling) and raised an eyebrow as Sarah went an even brighter shade of red.  
  
"What are you embarrassed about now?"  
  
"nothing," Sarah replied in a much higher voice then usual. "Um, can we get going now? If we travel all day and the rest of the night we ought to be there by tomorrow."  
  
"Actually," Jareth said, "If we traveled day and night nonstop for two days, we'd get there. But we'll need to sleep at night, now that we're in Labyrinthine territory, and travel by day. We've got no food or water until sometime tomorrow, if we get going now, where there's a sort of lagoon. So it'll take four days at least." He ran a bloodied hand through his hair, ignoring the slight streak it left.  
  
"let's go, then" he decided, and turned around and set off. Sarah hesitated, then followed after him, trotting so that she was a little behind him (in case the perv got any ideas) and they both ignored the Wolves' howling behind them.  
  
She tried really, really, really hard not to notice how neither of them had a shirt on except Toby (A/N: I think he'll wake up tomorrow morning!). silly kid, she thought. He hasn't got any clue as to how lucky he is.  
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A/N: not bad, not bad, not bad! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, I got a you-know-what-king-of-grade on one of my tests and my parents freaked. So now, after being grounded from my computer, I've been able to give this chap to you! Happy spring break! 


	5. J gets stressed

A/N: sorry for the delay! I had a visual and speech due today and had to scramble to get it done (actually I had my hook and thesis done this morning - did I fail?) so ANYWAY, here's the scoop; I spent my entire spring break with a three-year-old boy! He's blond too. Now, isn't that a coincidence? His mom finally reprimanded me from calling him 'Toby' - said I was planting unwantted seeds, then went on to say that that shouldn't have aspired any thoughts. I laughed - and stopped calling him Toby. But, my point is, that, um, well... I've SERIOUSLY been denoting Toby all along! I should be able to talk and walk and all - but at limits. See, I learned stuff: there is no 'it' or 'she'. EVERYTHING is a 'he' in three-year-old language. There is no 'are' or 'aren't' or 'they' or 'them'. Only 'is' and 'other us' (from what I've learned of three-year-old language).  
  
So THEREFORE Toby will be somewhat more SMARTER in the following chapters! Heehee!  
  
Disclaimer: look at that - Disclaimer. Heh! So, what do you suppose a 'Disclaimer' is? Don't know? THEN HIGHLIGHT IT AND PRESS THE 'D' KEY, STUPID!!!!!  
  
Chapter Started: 3/25/03 Chapter Finished: 3/27/03  
  
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About an hour after the last chapter  
  
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Sarah was miserable. I mean, more miserable then usual. She was sweaty, tired, bored, embarrassed, hot, she had a headache, and to top it all off neither she NOR her supposedly worst enemy (whom she was ashamedly admiring from behind) had shirts on! He didn't even have a modesty check above 13.8!  
  
In FACT, Sarah was about to complain to Jareth (again) when Toby (still held protectively in front of her as though this would magically make her clean and WITH a shirt) woke up.  
  
Toby woke up! OMG, call the guard, call the navy, the national police, the SECOND HAND SHERIFF.... Oh, hey, Toby was waking up - that's good, Sarah thought.  
  
"Sawah?" he asked somewhat stupidly. Then he remembered what happened before he fainted (like a nina!!!!! That's spanish for Little Girl!!!) and he promptly burst into tears. What kind of three-year-old blond wouldn't? see, I mentioned this because Sarah is Sweaty, tired, bored, embarrassed, hot, and shirtless while holding Toby. What's going to happen when he wakes up and starts screaming and kicking? DING DING DING!!! She dropped him.  
  
But this only caused more problems because Sarah immediately felt guilty and scared and worried for Toby's well-being on top of her other feelings before, and Toby was even more scared (hadn't opened his eyes) and therefore screamed louder. [can boys scream? I know BABY boys can scream *glances about* but can toddlers scream? The one I spent my spring break with was the most adorable thing - I couldn't punish him. I'm going to be a bad mother someday. ^_^()]  
  
SO, in conclusion, Jareth turned around impatiently and walked back to a wailing Toby (boys can wail) and a now wailing Sarah (fifteen year olds have high voices.... um, I think that I'll make Sarah a first soprano in this. :D).  
  
He considered yelling (Somehow our favorite (and only) Goblin King had gotten into a pissy mood) but his moral cut him short. Besides, they were both pretty cute when they were sad like that. His hands fell from his hips and Jareth knelt in front of them.  
  
"Assa lle elee, hin." He instructed calmly. MAGIC! Toby immediately stopped crying and opened his eyes, staring blearily about. (A/N: it's a Magical tongue that only Jareth and his family (elven side) can use. The above translation would be 'open your eyes, child'. Elvish - neat, isn't it? but in MY fanfic it only works on children.) so therefore, Jareth was at a loss as to what he should do about a Sarah that was hitting a nonstop rather nice soprano line.  
  
"Uh, Sarah?" he asked, then louder "SARAH, SHUT UP ALREADY!" Amazingly enough, Sarah shut up and stared at him bleary-eyed. Had her ears deceived her? Had sweet, gentle, singing, gorgeous, somewhat quiet, and wuvvle, Jareth just yelled?  
  
Sarah was speechless.  
  
"Thank you." And with that statement, Jareth picked up a now grinning-like- an-idiot Toby and cradled him against his hip before turning around and trekking on.  
  
It took him maybe an hour to realize that Sarah hadn't been following.  
  
Sarah was still sitting there in frozen shock, and she didn't even move when a distant yet loud shout; "SARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!" made even more wolves, bears, wolfbears, and whatever else run in fear.  
  
(A/N: hey, J is stressed. This is finally comin' down on his shoulders - trekking for a long time through emptiness until he reached his Labyrinth, which was probably inhabited by Mr. Willy [I'll think of his first name soon - vote for either Bob, Freddie, George, or Sophie. Which do you think suits Mr. Willy the best?] and Mr. Willy would most likely break everything and clean up so that Jareth wouldn't be able to find anything, and torture the chickens to death, and ruin the Labyrinth and weather and everything else that went along with the Labyrinth. Plus - oh, here's a bonus that Jareth was swooning over - Sarah who beat his Laby now called him 'wuvvle' frequently, stretched herself to the point of insanity of a sports paw(or was it dra?), not to mention the he kinds sorta liked her but she would never "like" him, etc., etc., etc., so there was angst too. Please forgive his slowly wavering patence. Oh, and he should anti-age soon, right? I'll do that!)  
  
TWO hours later, Sarah had recomposed herself and was following behind Jareth, singing toddler songs with Toby and watching in silent admiration of the King in front of her.  
  
Then she began to brood over him, I'm certain that you all know. *grins* Heheheh, you J/S fans are gonna love this.  
  
Oh, yeah, back to the story!  
  
He said that he was part Elf, part Fairy, she thought quietly. (A/N: no duh, she was thinking SO LOUD that the entire desert or wherever it is they are could here her. Actually, no, I was just being sarcastic - but Jareth can read minds - no, that gives him too much power for the J/S I have in store *gasps* did I just type that out loud? Anyway, I'll give him the power to sense EMOTIONS, you know, like Dianna Troi on Star Trek? Did I spell 'Dianna' right? Sorry, I won't interrupt this chapter anymore.)  
  
I find that strangely... interesting, she thought on, and listened for a moment to Toby's version of "I'm a Barbie Girl". Then, of course, she thought some more, focusing her eyes on Jareth's back as he walked ahead like usual.  
  
(A/N: oh, I'm going to put thoughts in single quotes, okay? Makes things easier. Did I say that I wouldn't interrupt this chapter anymore? Sorry, I promise it won't happen again.)  
  
'This really is sweet of him,' Sarah thought. (I'm going to check my thesaurus for 'thought', hold on.... okay!) 'How he treated my side, and saved me and Toby, and is putting up with us. Not even looking at me that way either! That's a first,' she paused in her brooding to stare at Toby who had just invented another form of the Barbie Girl song including himself, Jareth, and her. Then she thought on!  
  
'Plus he has to deal with anti-aging, and Mr. Willy... Putting up with us....' Sarah made a strong resolve to herself. 'I must help him. Maybe he'd let Toby and me (bad grammer, eh?) stay for a little while after this is all over?'. She frowned to herself, then felt an intense wave of pity and, believe it or not, a sense of protection for the boy in front of her. She continued her contemplation;  
  
'I know that he's got to be older than he looks right now.... How old, I wonder? He's part Elf, and I heard that Elves can be immortal. Jareth might be three hundred for all I know!' she watched Jareth pause slightly, then continue on, tipping his head as though he wanted to look over his shoulder at her but thought better of it.  
  
'Oh, how even more sweeter! He wants to smile reassuringly at me but won't because I asked him not to look!' Sarah's feelings intensified.  
  
Jareth, meanwhile, was trying in vain to block out the feelings of protectiveness - pity he could deal with, pity from Sarah could be gotten rid of - but having somebody think him helpless and want to *protect* him???? Now that was going just a step too far!  
  
However, Sarah can't read minds or emotions, being Human and all, so she continued her musing, considering Jareth from behind and ignoring Toby more carefully now. 'He is SO hot... Wait a second, did I just think that?!? No! no, bad Sarah!' her mind went blank for a moment. "Well, maybe not SO bad.....'  
  
Toby had by now gotten bored and disliked being carried around so much. He squirmed and was somewhat surprised when Sarah let him go and walk on his own easily/without complaint. He walked by her almost stiff and shirtless form for a while then stumbled and sort-of ran to walk between her and Jareth. They were both so silent.... he immediately burst into a song of "Jareth and Sarah, sittin' in a tree! K I S S I N G! first comes love! Then comes marriage, then comes-" he stopped his song and quickly started up the Barbie Girl song again when both Jareth and Sarah froze and whirled on him.  
  
Then their walking continued, along with more thoughts;  
  
Jareth thinking: dang, that Toby kid is psychic.... No wonder Sarah wished him away!  
  
Sarah thinking: Toby! Oh, you bad boy! How DARE you read my thoughts without my permission and embarrass me in front of my wuvvle?!? How did you read my thoughts?!? Are you psychic?!? No, stupid, he isn't. stop talking to yourself and get back to musing silently!  
  
So, Jareth's thoughts focused ahead in the futeure and Mr. Willy, the only part of him paying attention to the others behind him were his trying to ignore Toby and a slight interest in feeling for Sarah's emotions. But then he gave up on that a while later when nothing exploded inside of her, and focused his attention on his issues.  
  
Sarah, meanwhile, was rather *inspired* by Toby's song. 'I wonder if...?' She let her thoughts trail off, then something totally unexpected entered her mind and ahead of her Jareth froze and stumbled/tripped over his own feet. Toby bounced into him and the two toppled. Or, Jareth toppled and Toby tripped over him.  
  
Jareth gave a muffled curse. "Unmarth!" to be exact. Toby gave a muffled agreement.  
  
He knew EXACTLY just WHAT had just intimated from Sarah, and it shocked him, to say the least. (A/N: any guesses? Heehee!) but now that he was face down in the dirt he was now over the first shock of what he had felt and now he had a mix of emotions himself; curiosity, an ill sort of pleasure, unsureness, and a much stronger feeling of............. pain? He turned his head to the side and looked at his hand. He watched it grow a little smaller, barely audible, in something akin to bemusement, then he swallowed and pushed himself up.  
  
There was an odd sort of buzzing in his ears, and he barely registered Toby's and Sarah's shouts or the sense of fear coming from both, along still from that other thing from Sarah. Then everything went black.  
  
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A/N: sorry I had to end this so soon. I haven't writtten this fic in a while, and thus am 'out of practice' in its going-abouts. Remember to tell me which name you would like best for Mr. Willy's first name! Bob, Freddie, George, or Sophie. Please let me know what you think, otherwise I'll automatically think of something LOGICAL, and nobody wants THAT! ;) oh, special note to *Elf: ya really think so??? In truth, I've only been 'constructively criticized' once, so I wouldn't know. *scratches head* I've got no idea. ^_^() heh, welcome to the world of the blondes. Btw, where did you get the name 'Elf'? curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction DID bring him back! 


	6. I Hope You Dance

A/N: hullo! You must be crazy indeed if you're still reading this, all the way to chapter five. *frowns* oh well. At least I know now that I'm not alone in this world! There is a song in this - it starts out with Sarah singing it (like I said, she's a soprano in this!). but I'm not going to make her just "sing" it the whole time - I mean, let's face it; Jareth is *the* singer in Laby. Duh! So I'm going to put the rest of the lyrics in [these little caption thingies.]. deal? Okay? Understand? Good!  
  
Disclaimer: look, people, I don't own. So if you tried to sue me, I assure you that all you would get is mybroken flashlight from the 6th grade (please don't ask) and/or my poor, poor computer. *huggles computer* AND IF YOU TAKE MY ONLY MEANS OF CONNECTION TO THE INTERNAT THEN I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAA!!! On an unrelated topic, I don't own "I Hope You Dance". Lee Ann Womack does. And I might add that this song is one of the ONLY two exceptions I'll make for country music. :p bleh. Sorry, I guess that I'm not a country fan. Oh well. ^_^()  
  
Chapter Started: 3/28/03 Chapter finished: 3/28/03  
  
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The night after the last chapter, and I'll relieve poor, poor Jareth of all his stressors. Or, a few of them - I mean, which one of us wants to deal with Sarah and Toby while our castle and kingdom in general has been taken over by Mr. Willy, our brother and arch rival? I mean, and anti-aging too? Come ON! Okay, sorry.  
  
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Sarah pulled her knees to her chest for some warmth and watched Toby and Jareth in the thirteen stars' light. Toby was snoring happily, completely content apparently, curled up to his big step-sister's side. Jareth... now looked maybe thirteen or twelve. In the starlight, he seemed more then unusually pale. His dirty blond hair brushed the tips of his ears (which were obviously Elven, Sarah couldn't help but think in semi-admiration), and his face seemed so young when he was asleep..... innocent, really. But what really got her was not his now almost frail-looking body frame, or his ears or (really, really, almost sickly, really, pale) skin, nor was it his height which had only grown about maybe half an inch smaller/shorter. It was his half-open eyes. They were glazed over with sleep, and Sarah could have sworn that if his lids were lifted a little over halfway higher then he would be sleeping with his eyes open. And they were a deep, dark blue and brown, both colors hardly distinguishable from each other, framed by thick, black lashes.  
  
Moreover, he was alive (or so she assured herself my reaching out every now and then to check his pulse) but his form was procumbent, and his chest hardly moved with each quiet breath. Then again, Sarah avoided as best she could looking at the bright pale skin and muscles there - he just looked so naïve. Hesitantly, she reached out and pushed her two fingers against his neck, feeling for the pulse, assuring herself that it was there, that he was alive.  
  
It'd be such a waste for such a gorgeous guy to die, right? Sarah mentally slapped herself after that one.  
  
"Sarah?" asked a small voice, and Toby stirred. "Go back to sleep, Toby."  
  
"Im cold."  
  
"I know, hon, we all are" are so Sarah thought, glancing at Jareth. "But we're all going to have to tough it out for now, okay? It'll be warm in the castle once we get there."  
  
"Oh." Toby shifted again and Sarah put her knees down and laid his head on her lap.  
  
"Will you sing me a song?" he asked at last, closing his eyes.  
  
"Uh, okay..... What do you want me to sing?"  
  
"Something in the talking Jaref was saying."  
  
"I can't speak that language."  
  
"Then a magic song - like the one from my dreams."  
  
Sarah paled. The Goblins had told her all about what Jareth and Toby had done at that party at her house before she gained some sense and kicked them all out for fear of Toby's safety. They WERE Goblins, after all. Toby had sung the song once or twice as well.  
  
"I'm not sure I know it.... but, uh, hey, while we're on the subject of dancing," Sarah's mind went immediately to the dream in the Bubble with Jareth, and the (incredibly romantic) song he had sung. But then she glanced at his prone form again, checked his pulse, blushed, and shook her head. "I Hope You Dance," she decided. That song I played for you last year, remember?"  
  
"No. I'm hungry."  
  
"So am i."  
  
"Will you sing me the song? The dancing one?"  
  
"Sure." Sarah paused and wondered briefly how incredibly embarrassed she'd be should Jareth wake up and hear her sing the song, any song in general.  
  
"Sing it."  
  
"I am." Another pause, and Sarah took a deep breath, then started slowly, acappella. "I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. Get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger. May you never take one single breath for granted - god forbid love ever leave you empty-handed. I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean. Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens. Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance. And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance...... I hope you dance," Sarah's voice grew in volume and feeling as she fell into the song, and she closed her eyes, letting the lyrics sweep over her like a wave of emotion.  
  
So she didn't notice Jareth's eyes open all the way, or see him roll over with a slight grimace to watch (and listen of course) to her. She also didn't notice that, after Toby curled next to her and she pulled her knees to her chest, still singing, Toby was (conk!) asleep.  
  
[I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,  
  
never settle for the path of least resistance  
  
living might mean taking chances, but their worth takin'  
  
loving might be a mistake, but its worth makin'.]  
  
Eyes still closed, Sarah turned her face to the sky, unconsciously picturing that scene in the ballroom, in the bubble. 'What was Jareth thinking during all of that?' she wondered (also unconciously). 'Does he feel an overwhelming joy and emotions when he sings? That special song in particular?' she shifted to her knees. Jareth pushed himself to his feet and stood silently in front of an unnoticing Sarah. He circled her like a cat, listening, and finally fell to his knees beside her, his mind swiftly predicting future lyrics in the song, and devising words along with it.  
  
[don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter  
  
when you come close to selling out, reconsider.  
  
Give the heavens above more then just a passing glance,  
  
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance -]  
  
Jareth took a quiet breath and sange softly behind hers. (A/N: and I'LL put J's words, though they're technically Womack's, in {these things}, okay?)  
  
[I hope you dance..... I hope you dance  
  
{time is a wheel in constant motion, always rolling us along,}  
  
I hope you dance...... I hope you dance,  
  
{tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone}]  
  
Sarah became aware of Jareth's voice, but didn't care. She could feel his hand on her shoulder, hear his voice accompanying hers, and opened her eyes, though only for a second, she closed them again.  
  
[I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,  
  
whenever one closes, I hope one more opens,  
  
promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,  
  
and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance;  
  
I hope you dance, I hope you dance  
  
{time is a wheel in constant motion, always}  
  
I hope you dance...  
  
{rolling us along,}  
  
I hope you dance...  
  
{tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder}  
  
I hope you dance...  
  
{where those years have gone?}  
  
{tell me, who}  
  
dance... dance...  
  
{wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone?}]  
  
Sarah slipped slightly, and curled into a ball much like Toby, resting her head in Jareth's lap.  
  
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A/N: aw, wasn't that sweet? *sticks tongue out* songfics are distracting to write. Ack, ok, I'll stay away from writing those unless it's by the velvetty voice of our dear Jareth! *snort* no, really. Um......, yeah. Tell me which name best suits Mr. Willy! See last chapter for options. 


	7. The Confrontment of Mr Willy!

A/N: hullo! Half a moment after I wrote the last chapter, here I am now! Heehee! Ok, our heroes have only have thirty-six hours of traveling until they get to the Labyrinth, and I think by now that Mr. Willy is done terrorizing the Aboveground b/c he may have figured out that Jareth ain't up there! And guess what else? I just thought of why Mr. Willy really, really hates Jareth so much! I mean, other than the obvious. Understand? Good! Oh, and Jareth now looks around thirteen or fourteen, so...... yeah. Also I have decided that Jareth DOES NOT have any mind powers whatsoever - the senses of Fairies and Elves should be enough. Besides, it'd be too much work and I'd have to change my original plot - now we don't want that, do we? So the whole Dianna Troi thing was simply a passing fling. Neveryouworry, I won't put and take out stuff like this/that any more. Sorry for any confusion! Oh, and thanks SPECIALLY to (so far) my only reviewers that's actually read this far! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! *throws chocolate covered dinosaurs to Elf, Heikgan, and Terrie* p.s. I AM IN LOVE WITH CERTAIN PERSONS ON LotR!!!!!!!! That's why I asked about your name, Elf. ^^;  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth or any of its characters - loved, beloved and revered Jim Henson does (all bow to the beloved and revered director) and I own this plot and Mr. Willy... Pretty much nothing else.  
  
Chapter Started: 3/28/03 Chapter Finished: 4/4/03  
  
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The next morning  
  
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Sarah woke up to being carried again, and couldn't help but marvel at the never ending strength Jareth showed.  
  
Upon further investigation, she learned that the sun was already risen for a while perhaps by now, that she was slung over Jareth's right shoulder held firmly around the waist with one arm, and Toby was nestled against his side still lightly snoozing.  
  
And despite herself, she found that she didn't mind the position so much. In fact, she rather enjoyed it. But she heard the slight rasp in Jareth's breath, and this was enough acknowledgement from his soundless breathing the night before, so she whispered that she was awake, and slid from his shoulder. Then there was the slight, slight, slight twinge of embarrassment of being carried by somebody shorter, ya know? Even though Jareth could well be over a hundred gazillion million years old, his body was that of a twelve year old, so... Sarah shook her head and took Toby from him. They continued their trek in silence for the rest of the day, and at night Jareth sat and refused to close his eyes until both Sarah and Toby were asleep too.  
  
What Sarah and Toby didn't know was that he was alert, and more wary of their surroundings; therefore, he didn't sleep. Mr. Willy was back in the Labyrinth.  
  
Twenty four more hours to go.  
  
Jareth by now looked like a nine or ten year old.  
  
Twelve more hours. almost there.....  
  
Jareth resembled a six or seven year old. Sarah found also that he was now almost translucent looking in his paleness; and his skin seemed to glow almost. His eyes were even harder to tell any sort of color, they were so dark, and he came just above Sarah's waist in height. He also seemed so silent - not just in the talking area, but his footsteps hardly left imprints on the dusty ground, and Sarah could not see nor hear him breathe period. Now instead of so strong as he seemed before, he seemed just as frail as Toby, and she became well aware of his restlessness at night; no sleep was showing, however faintly. Once she had tried to coax him into sleeping, but gave up when he gave her a thirty minute speech about how despite what body he was in, he was still a few millennia over her age, and not to baby talk him, and that he was keeping watch for Mr. Willy, who was back in the underground, the labyrinth.  
  
Not to mention fatigue and hunger weighing down on all of them, including Jareth, no matter how much he denied it.  
  
Sarah now found Toby walking alongside her and carrying Jareth who was asleep. Something that freaked her out - he slept with his eyes open. She doubted that he could see anything - they were glazed like mist on a marsh. At first it had freaked her out, but after a while she got used to it. she wondered if that was a Fairy or Elven thing.  
  
No matter. Just one more hill....... Sarah let out a delighted gasp. It was the hill Jareth had left her on when she had first wished Toby away!  
  
"Look, Toby, Jareth!" she cried. The great maze wound out before them, just as it had the first time she had seen it. there was definitely something different about it, something dark, but that which is ominous obviously belongs to Mr. Willy! Jareth could deal with it once they met Mr. Willy face to face - and Sarah vowed to be there.  
  
"It big," Toby said, awed. Sarah shook Jareth and put him on his feet, and he blinked flatly. When he looked around, he acknowledged three things and three different emotions; He had fallen asleep, he had been carried, and he was in front of his Labyrinth. He was annoyed at Sarah for thinking him so weak that she would carry him (whatever happened to her little modesty issue?), anger at himself for showing weakness, and falling asleep when Mr. Willy could attack when he was - Jareth loathed to admit this - at his most vulnerable, and of course a pure joy at being in front of his Kingdom again.  
  
Through it all, Happiness won over, and a small grin tugged at his pale lips.  
  
"Come on!" he said, glancing at Sarah, his bangs whipping his forehead in the swift motion. "But stay low and be quiet - Mr. Willy is here." And they started down - Jareth took off at a run and was about halfway there when he figured out that Sarah and Toby weren't that fast - so Sarah ended up running as fast as she could carrying a giggling Toby, attempting to keep up with a jogging Jareth.  
  
After maybe an hour or so, they were in front of the closed gates, and Jareth sighed as he let Sarah catch her breath and put Toby down. "Ready?" he asked. she nodded, curious to see Jareth's way of getting through the Labyrinth. He cocked an eyebrow at her (something that looked incredibly ADORABLE on such a young Jareth's face!) then placed both hands on one of the huge doors and began to push.  
  
Sarah was about to point out that a boy - err, she meant man - of his size wouldn't be able to push open those doors, but she swallowed her comment in a gasp when the door thirty times his size, and maybe fifty times his weight at least, began to bend under his will and opened. Jareth stopped pushing once he deemed it big enough for Sarah to pass through. Toby was smaller than him, so he didn't worry about him.  
  
"are you coming?"  
  
"oh. Uh, yeah, come on Toby!" Sarah took off after Jareth and squeezed through the door crack with Toby, and Jareth pushed it shut behind them easily.  
  
"where's Hoggle?"  
  
"who?"  
  
"Hoggle."  
  
"oh. Probably in hiding, Aboveground, or in the castle. Ludo and Sir Didymus too. Are you coming?"  
  
"do you know the way?"  
  
Jareth huffed as though he'd been insulted and took off to the right, the way Sarah had taken. "no, Sarah, I built this and don't know my way through it."  
  
Sarah was smart enough to catch his sarcastic tone and frowned. "Well, do you know where you're going?"  
  
"god, Sarah, what an incredibly stupid question! Yes I know where I'm going!" he stopped abruptly, at the same place Sarah had stopped before, she couldn't help but notice. She wondered for a moment if he was going to trace her steps, but he went left instead. "Hey, wait! Jareth, don't go that way!"  
  
Jareth stopped, turned, and stared at her, lifting an eyebrow. "Why not?"  
  
"Never go that way," Sarah replied, helpless to give him a straight answer. "the worm said not to - never to!"  
  
"ah." Jareth heaved a sigh, one that seemed to almost wrack his slim and pale shoulders. "sarah, this is the way to the castle. About fifteen minutes, maybe. The worm didn't know you wanted to go to the castle, so he sent you the long way. You would have easily made it in time had you not heeded his warning." Jareth's lips twisted into a smile. "none of the other girls did." And with that, he spun on his heel and took off at a jog.  
  
A now embarrassed AND insulted Sarah followed sullenly, and Toby wisely said nothing.  
The walk was indeed maybe fifteen minutes, and Jareth lead the other two through a silent, and ominous feeling, Goblin City. The sky darkened and rain began to fall along with spectacular lightning. (You know what's happening!). Jareth slammed a little fist on the huge doors to the entrance of his castle, then they opened before him. Sarah and Toby scampered in after him, and they closed with a slam behind them.  
  
The castle was completely silent, and Jareth jogged to the throne room, where he was sitting on Jareth's throne.  
  
"Bob." Jareth greeted casually.  
  
"Jareth." Mr. Willy responded. Then he reached up and removed his hood and cloak before standing fully. "my, my," he stated mockingly. "you seem to have grown little one!"  
  
Jareth growled but did nothing else besides clenching and unclenching his fists. His incredibly smaller fists... hey, wait a second!  
  
Sarah gasped, as did Jareth, who stared as his shrinking hands. But there was no pain or fatigue this time.  
  
Sarah watched in horror as Mr. Willy stood before a Jareth who looked maybe the same age as Toby, a year younger perhaps. The dark evil shadow creature (actually he looked a little like Jareth) towered over the small frame of Jareth, and he smirked.  
  
"lookey here," he cooed (mockingly). "a cute widdy-bitty baby! Aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!" he reached down with a hand and ruffled Jareth's ear tip length blond-silver hair, brushing tips of pointed ears, almost knocking down the narrow, fragile seeming frame that was pale as paper, maybe paler.  
  
Jareth snarled, however, and reached up swiftly, grabbing Mr. Willy's wrist and breaking it with a smooth crack. "what's wrong, Bob?" he teased as Mr. Willy danced around in pain howling. "Oh, does the widdy-bitty baby have a strong grip? Oh, I'm SO sorry!"  
  
Mr. Willy snarled this time, and advanced towards an ADORABLE Jareth, drawing a knife with a homicidal look in his eyes, but then Sarah's brain kicked in and she leapt with a roar and slammed into Mr. Willy, knocking them both off balance. The knife went clattering and slid to a stop in front of Toby. The three-year-old attempted to pick it up, but it was too heavy for him to lift, and Jareth came over to him (albeit somewhat slowly) and the two of them struggled to lift the weapon. It had a spell on it, Jareth mused, since he couldn't lift such a lightweight thing at all.  
  
But then the Goblin King turned his now pitch black eyes toward Sarah and Mr. Willy, and he dropped the handle of the knife. "Sarah!" he shouted. "hit his legs!"  
  
Sarah complied, and brought a heel up to slam it into Mr. Willy's shin, causing him to swear and release her from the strangle hold that he had been choking her with. He glared threateningly at her, then something lit up behind his eye. s. eyes. "Oh," he laughed mockingly. He's very mocky- like, ain't he folks? "Aha, I can see why Jareth kept you alive - such a pretty little girl with such a fire-y spirit! I myself did love a challenge from a sweetheart once in a while!" he laughed. "Perhaps you'd have better uses! May be I won't kill you!"  
  
He turned his gaze to a very angry Jareth.  
  
who just looked so amazinly adorable! Can't you picture it? with his eyes all narrowed slightly and his bottom lip out, shoulders hunched up and fists clenched - SO CUTE! Sarah was thinking this, of course.  
  
"my, my, Jareth, but you do have expensive taste, no?" he laughed, but choked on his laughter when Jareth grabbed the nearest liftable weapon and threw it with all of his might, the shoe clunking Mr. Willy in the side of his chin, and he flew and hit the wall head first. (oh! He'll be feeling that tomorrow!).  
  
Toby handed Jareth his other shoe for ready ammo, and as Mr. Willy jumped to his feet Sarah dashed up and kicked him in the shin. He danced around on one foot yelping and Jareth smacked him (perfect bulls eye!) in the nose with Toby's other shoe, and he was rendered unconscious.  
  
Sarah kicked him in the shin again, just for good measure.  
  
"Is it over?"  
  
"no. I'm not in my regular body yet. Its not over."  
  
"oh. Uh, hey Jareth?"  
  
"yeah?"  
  
"I'm hungry."  
  
Toby jumped to his socked feet. "so is me!" he agreed readily. Jareth rolled his eyes.  
  
"the kitchen is downstairs. Help yourselves. Thought you might want to-" but Sarah and Toby were already gone. "-watch for poisons from Mr. Willy." Jareth finished lamely, then turned his head to the still form.  
  
He strolled (as well as a two/three year old can) over to Mr. Willy and kicked him in the toe. "get up you git!" he threatened. "you've got some questions to answer!"  
  
Obediently, Mr. Willy sat up and looked at Jareth. Seeing the tiny thing with a shoe held threateningly above its head, the evil black shadow creature's courage promptly went poof and he screamed.  
  
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! DON'T KICK ME! DON'T THROW The Shoe!!!!!! PLEAZE!!!!!!! I ONLY WANT REVENGE FOR YOU STEALING MY P - P - PRECIOUSSSSSSSSSSS GUMPAAL!!!!! PLEAZE!" he fell to groveling at Jareth's tiny feet. "pleaze," he begged again.  
  
"is THAT what this is about?!?" Jareth asked exasperatedly. Mr. Willy nodded. "Gawd, Bob, she's a stupid little brat who's uglier than a squished beetle in an old moldy peach and follows me around EVERYWHERE until I finally got tired of it and killed it!"  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mr. Willy wailed. "she's NOT ugly or, or stupid or little or a brat or a squished beetle or a old moldy peach!!!! And she's NOT an IT! she's a beautiful-"  
  
"moron." Jareth finished, then gasped as he shrank to the size of a twelve month year old. Toby's shoe fell from his now tiny hand and he fell to his bottom. Mr. Willy jumped to his feet and roared with laughter.  
  
"ha ha HA!" cried Mr. Willy. "HA!" he repeated after a moment, just for good measure.  
  
Jareth twisted his now beyond adorable baby face into a scowl. By now he had maybe three teeth - great. He couldn't talk. Great.  
  
Juuuuuuuuuuuuuust great.  
  
Suddenly, just as Mr. Willy picked up a screaming and kicking and wailing and yelling Jareth by the ankle, there were twin screeches, and Toby and Sarah dashed in and hid behind Jareth's throne, sobbing. "Oh, my virgin eyes, my virgin eyes!" Sarah moaned in terror.  
  
Toby had fainted.  
  
Then, there was a terrible shrilling sound (ya know like the Nazgûl from LotR?) and the sun went dark. A shadow grew in the doorway and slowly became bigger and less fuzzy. Everybody held their breath as the most HIDEOUS creature entered the room! Toby screamed and fainted again.  
  
It was maybe a head taller than Jareth at his normal age/size, and wore a blood red "dress" that barely covered anything. This was what had scarred Sarah's now non-virgin eyes. Poor Sarah. (A/N: I'll make Jareth give her a "hug" when he's back to his normal age. :D)  
  
Its skin was pretty tan, and it was maybe thirty or forty years old.  
  
In truth, she was rather pretty.  
  
Mr. Willy promptly flung Jareth in the air (he squealed and Sarah gasped in horror) then ran towards the "woman" arms outstretched.  
  
"Gumpaal!" he cried. "O Fair Lady Gumpaal, please be my bride!" of course his request went unnoticed as Gumpaal recognized Jareth falling through the air (how she recognized him nobody knew) and she ran to catch him with a cry at the same time as Sarah.  
  
They both caught him at the same time, and both females glared at each other.  
  
I see a cat fight coming on, everybody (except Sarah, Gumpaal, and Toby) thought.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Sarah counted to ten and did this amazing trick: she opened her mouth, clenched her teeth, and pulled the corners of her lips towards her ears. Try it! Gumpaal thought it a sneer, so she sneered back and held chibi Jareth securely under his little arms, back facing her.  
  
Sarah could clearly see Jareth's face (since he was facing her) and she barely caught back another gasp. He was so little! She tightened her grip on his midsection. Jareth swallowed - he knew what was coming on. Mr. Willy smiled maliciously - he made a personal bet as to how long it would take the two (quite lovely) girls to rip Jareth in two.  
  
Toby was still out of it. poor thing. He's going to have nightmares tonight.  
  
"Hullo," Sarah greeted in a fake voice. "I fear that you have Jareth whereas you SHOULDN'T. do you mind letting. Go." It was stated as a command.  
  
"I apologize," Gumpaal snarled, slowly pulling Jareth towards her (over sized) chest. "but this is my baby to love and pet and take care of and "cherish". Go get your own, brat."  
  
Sarah snapped, "well I found him FIRST so he is therefore MINE to do with as I WISH. Hands. Off. You. Little. B- uh, witch!" she yanked Jareth deftly towards her own chest.  
  
"You?!?" Gumpaal roared. "Find him FIRST?!?!? well I'm sorry to burst your bubble, CHILD, but I have known and been in love with Jareth-wareth for over two hundred millennia by now! So he is therefore MINE!!!!!!" she yanked Jareth back towards her, successfully bringing Sarah to a forward stumble as well.  
  
"HE'S MINE!" Sarah screeched back. "HE HAPPENS TO LOVE ME, NOT YOU!!!!" she jerked Jareth and managed to get him into a triumphant hug to her chest. (good thing Jareth's so young, huh?)  
  
"MINE!!!!!" Gumpaal bellowed, and yanked Jareth towards her.  
  
And so the name-calling cat fight started. With each shout one of the two girls would yank Jareth towards herself, crushing him against her chest until he was yanked the other way;  
  
"JERK!"  
  
"MORON!"  
  
"GIT!"  
  
"NIT WIT!"  
  
"SHOE-HEAD!"  
  
"COSMETIC BRAT!"  
  
"GOBLIN-KING HOGGER!"  
  
"GOBLIN SMOOCHER!"  
  
they both paused a moment to shudder at this.  
  
"FOOL!"  
  
"IDIOT!"  
  
"JACK-A-" Sarah left that one edited in case Toby woke up.  
  
"BLOCKHEAD!"  
  
"DOLT!"  
  
"BONEHEAD!"  
  
"NINCOMPOOP!"  
  
this went on for a while.  
  
It ended though, finally, when Sarah's fatigue and hunger finally got to her, and so she CHEATED - but that's okay: She yanked Jareth to her as hard as she could without a word (a scowl maybe, but not a "WORD") then when Gupaal yanked back in turn, Sarah let go, indeed, she even pushed a bit, and Gumpaal went flying backwards with a screech into Mr. Willy, and Jareth went flying through the air. Again.  
  
As he headed towards the ground head first, he found himself crazily thinking 'I'm like a Bir-ird, I only fly awa-ay!' . and he clutched his eyes shut, but Sarah leapt up (let's go to slo-mo!) with a long low shout of "nnnnnnnnonoooooooooooooooooo Jaaaaarrrrrreeeeeeeetthththththththh!!!!!!!!" and she flew and caught him in her arms, then we switch back to fast-mo and she plummets to the floor like a rock and landed on her feet, miraculously.  
  
Then again, the floor WAS only about half an inch below her, so........ it depends on your point of view.  
  
Immediately, she bolted to Jareth's throne and jumped behind it, hiding with a still unconscious Toby.  
  
"sa ah!" Jareth said, but cursed silently when he realized he couldn't talk. But Sarah, having lived with Toby for three years, understood and looked at him.  
  
"how do I get you to your normal age?" she whispered. Mr. Willy and Gumpaal were arguing loudly.  
  
"Bo-thun," Jareth screwed up his face and grumbled.  
  
"potion?"  
  
his eyes snapped open and he looked at Sarah (who was still cradling him to her chest) in slight amazement.  
  
"yea," he murmured. "Bawth baw-ket."  
  
"yes, Bob's pocket?"  
  
Jareth bobbed his head as best he could - didn't want to break his neck, you see.  
  
"okay. I'll be right back." Sarah lay Jareth on his back carefully next to Toby and jumped over the throne.  
  
With a mighty battle cry (actually it was "TO CHOCOLATE COVERED DINOSAUR HELL WITH YOU!!!!!" but that counts as a mighty battle cry) Sarah launched herself at Mr. Willy and tackled him out of Gumpaal's strangle hold. She then stood on her feet and promptly kicked Mr. Willy maybe an inch above his upper thigh. (ooh, ouch!).  
  
Gumpaal, delighted that her enemy was helping her, scurried over.  
  
"why did you do that?" she asked curiously.  
  
"because he's got the only potion in his pocket to stop Jareth from dying," Sarah replied. "what say you we put aside out conflict until Jareth is alive and well in his own age/body, okay? Team up and beat Mr. Willy together?"  
  
"deal! But once my shnoopsy-poo is all better-wetter, I'll kill you if I have to, to have him."  
  
"okay."  
  
"okay!"  
  
"the potion is in his pocket - I'll get it to Jareth and you hold Mr. Willy back."  
  
"okay!"  
  
"okay!"  
  
"okay!"  
  
"okay!"  
  
"WILL YOU STOP SAYING 'OKAY' ALREADY?!?!?!?!?!?!?"  
  
Sarah kicked Mr. Willy in the shin.  
  
Then she bent down and rummaged around in his pocket (his cloak pocket, mind you - not even Gumpaal would wish such a fat upon Sarah) while Gumpaal held him down. Finally, Sarah clasped a small vial of shiny pinkish milky whitish liquid that looked more like some sort of oil really.  
  
"this must be it. I'll be right back!" Sarah scampered back to the throne and jumped behind it. Gumpaal and mr. Willy were fighting and cursing loudly with each other.  
  
Behind the throne, Sarah knelt down next to Jareth and gasped.  
  
He looked like a newborn.  
  
Slowly, big dark eyes opened to look at her, and Jareth made a small noise.  
  
Sarah unstoppered the vial but paused. Was she supposed to simply splash it on him, stick it in his ears, make him swallow it??? what was she supposed to do???  
  
"Gumpaal! I don't know how to use it on him! Find out, please, hurry!"  
  
after a few yelps of pain from Mr. Willy, Gumpaal replied, "He has to swallow every last bit of it!"  
  
Sarah looked down at Jareth and bit her lip. Then she carefully but the vial down and sat herself, lifting the tiny babe into her arms, careful of his head, which she cradled in the crook of her arm as she reached for the vial again, back against throne.  
  
Sarah lifted it to Jareth's face, but he scrunched it up and clamped his mouth shut.  
  
"come on, Jareth!" Sarah said, her voice rising in pitch with panic. "you have to swallow it! please, would you rather let Mr. Willy win?" Jareth's eyes traveled to the vial in Sarah's hand, and he frowned. It would take a minute to swallow the whole of THAT at his fastest without pause, and plus it looked hard to swallow, it seemed so thick.  
  
Not to mention he seriously resented being fed like an infant by Sarah Williams.  
  
Finally, after Sarah screamed "JARETH, PLEASE!!!" a few times, he clenched his eyes shut and opened his mouth, excepting his fate. With a somewhat rushed sigh, Sarah acted as though she were feeding a baby Toby a bottle, and Jareth gazed flatly at her, grumbling to himself as he forced himself to swallow the vile liquid.  
  
"hurry, Sarah!" Gumpaal shouted. "I can't hold-" but she gasped and stopped as Mr. Willy broke free of her hold and leapt at the throne like a mad dog, and jerked the great chair away, revealing Sarah holding a still-attempting- to-swallow infant Jareth. Sarah jumped to her feet, and trusting Toby to be safe and Gumpaal to hold Mr. Willy back, she ran a bit clumsily out into a hall and bolted up endless flights of stairs and halls. Too late did Jareth make a wailing sound, and she realized she had pulled the vial away. There was still half of it left. With a groan, Sarah put Jareth on his back and gave him the vial, placing it between his lips.  
  
"hurry," she moaned. "I've got to get Toby."  
  
So she turned and bolted right back to where she had started from. And not a moment too soon! Mr. Willy was holding a screaming Toby by the ankle, and keeping Gumpaal at bay with his other hand. He was laughing maniacally - he looks like he's gone acorns, Sarah thought.  
  
With another one of her Chocolate Dinosaur Battle Cries, Sarah snatched Toby away, slapped Mr. Willy silly, then kicked him in the shin.  
  
Gumpaal did the same, and Mr. Willy stared at them both bemusedly. "are you done yet?" he asked flatly.  
  
Sarah thought a moment before smashing his little toe cruelly (she's not as nice as you think, folks). "okay, I'm done."  
  
Mr. Willy sighed (after he had stopped yelping around in pain and anger) and said, "then I'll kill you, the Human brat there, and Jareth, and Gumpaal will be my bride!"  
  
Ooh. Sarah shuddered. Not even *she* wished such a fate on even *Gumpaal*.  
  
"MUAHAHAHAHAHAAA *hack, choke* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!! I SHALL KILL THE HUMAN BOY-BRAT FIRST SO THAT YOU MAY SUFFER!!!!!" and with that, Mr. Willy snatched Toby from Sarah's arms (the poor dear was once again unconscious) accidentally taking Jareth's shirt/bandages with him.  
  
There was a momentary pause in which a breeze wafted through one of the stone windows.  
  
Down on the other side of the castle, Jareth heard a scream of "YOU PERVERT!!!!!!!!" followed quickly by a sickening smack that resounded across the Labyrinth.  
  
Wolves, bears, and wolfbears run in terror.  
  
Gumpaal squealed with glee - this was the kind of fighting that SHE liked!  
  
Mr. Willy stared in flat out disbelief (after he'd gotten back to his feet and the stinging had stopped on the side of his face). Then his gaze turned to lust, followed swiftly by anger, then lust, disbelief, and at last he settled for a look of round-eyed disbelief/lust/anger.  
  
Sarah was quick to see these. Disbelief and anger she could handle - it meant that she could torture Mr. Willy before she killed him. But lust - now that was just a step too far! NOBODY was allowed to look at her with lust unless it was Jareth, godammit!!!!!  
  
But her anger cooled a little bit when she saw the perfect red hand print on Mr. Willy's cheek.  
  
Moreover, it shot back up by thirty percent than before when she felt a tingling sensation on her right palm. She didn't need to look to know that she had broken a nail.  
  
Now THAT was what really pissed her off.  
  
"YOU LITTLE PISSIN' A-" she paused, wondering if she should continue that sentence in case Toby woke up.  
  
But Mr. Willy quickly regained his composure and let Toby go flyyyyyyyyyin' through the air (luckily Gupaal caught him, but that was by accident and resulted in a very sore-headed fey woman) then Mr. Willy jumped and had Sarah pinned to the wall.  
  
"such a pity that I'll have to kill you first now," he spat, and raised his hand (the other miraculously holding a shirtless Sarah down) and a knife appeared in it.  
  
Sarah could only hear a strange buzzing sound in her ears, and was only dimly aware of Toby's sudden cries (must've woken up), Gumpaal's abrupt squeal of something akin to delight or horrible, horrible pain, her own heavy breathing, Mr. Willy's words. Only as though she were blank did she feel Mr. Willy getting yanked off of her, and she fell to her butt.  
  
Slowly, she looked up and thought she saw Jareth at his normal age.  
  
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A/N: heh, oh, well, that wasn't too bad. ^^; I'm almost done with this story (already???) its been my longest one. *sobs in happiness* so, in either case, I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can. ^_^ 


End file.
